In which K.T. gets married

K.T. got married today. :)

 I was so happy to wake up to a white world this morning. K.T. was hoping for snow.

How many people does it take to build a cake?

 Spencer places the second layer while Brian holds the third and Josh (left) and Garrett (far right) supervise.

 Garrett looks kind of seductive in this picture, but really I just caught him right before he hit the camera with a full glare. "How could you let Natasha dress me up in these itchy feather boas?"

Master Chef

It takes six people to build a wedding cake! Josh, Spencer, Garrett, Brian, Natasha and Kim

Being bridesmaids

I've been friends with K.T., Mikayla and Sara for 10 years now. I'm sure glad to have met them.

K.T. and Jamie asked several of their close friends to be bridesmaids and groomsmen. I was glad they made me feel included in their special day. :)

Getting into the Christmas spirit

 Katelyn wrapped our door. Ary added the "To: You From: Santa" sign. Get it? :)

 Four of the chemistry professors sang Christmas songs between classes in the Benson Building.

 Sara and Ary conspired together to leave everyone "Saint Nick" presents.

Bachelorette party for K.T.

Some people party it up at a bachelorette party. Sara, Natasha, Mikayla, K.T. and I went to the Provo LDS temple, then to get pizza and ice cream. Irony? There's a bit of a cultural difference.

Service from roommates

 I took these first two pictures the same day it snowed. I came home to find Sara had stacked everything from our kitchen in the living room so she could strip and wax the floor single-handedly! She is wonderful. :)

Later on this same night, the power went out for several hours. We celebrated by playing games and watching movies by flashlight.

Ary, Sketti, Sara and Jennifer gave me these flowers when I came home from my University Chorale concert they couldn't attend. They gave Katelyn some too. I super appreciate their thoughtfulness. The flowers are now in a makeshift vase on the table.

First snowfall

I took these pictures at the beginning of November, the first (and so far only) time it's snowed in Provo this winter.

The view outside from my work window. Looking on the south side of campus.

LaVell Edwards Stadium

GET MILK! GET MILK! GET MILK!

Here's today's story:

My International Media group was in the middle of giving a presentation. We were the 7th of 10 to present this evening, so it's actually quite amazing my phone chose the moment my group got up to present to go off.

I thought I'd turned my phone off before class, but obviously I forgot, because just as one of my group members was talking to the class about how much social media is used in Taiwan (the answer is, quite a lot), my phone went off. Of course, it was my most annoying ringtone- the one I set for calendar events. This particular event wasn't even important, it was just a reminder to buy some milk at the Creamery on my way home from class.

As soon as it went off, I suspected my phone was at fault, but I hesitated going all the way to the back of the room when here I was standing at the very front of the room giving a presentation. I settled on hoping A) it was coming from someone else's phone, or B) the sound would turn off after a few rings. After a minute passed and neither happened, I leaned over to my friend Carmen (who was in my group) and whispered, "I think that's mine, but I swear I turned it off."

The whole time, my classmate Sarah was pushing through her shpeal like a trooper, but by the time she finished, I just couldn't take it anymore. Before my third group member could go to her part, I said quickly, "Excuse me, I think that's my phone. I thought I turned it off," ran back and shut it up.

We resumed our presentation after I returned to the front, but THEN, just when it was my turn to give my shpeal about Taiwanese media professionalism (*cough**cough*), my phone went off again. I really thought I'd turned it off, but again, I'd quite obviously failed to do so.

This time I didn't wait for me to finish my shpeal, I went immediately to my phone, made sure I turned it off, and brought it up with me just in case it decided to reincarnate once more. (It didn't dare.)

After the presentation, I apologized to my group members and told them the silliest part was, it was only supposed to remind me to get milk. Carmen walked me to the edge of campus (she was headed to the library) and we talked a bit. Before we parted ways, she called, "Good night! Don't forget your milk!"

I froze. It had been less than five minutes since the end of class, and I'd already forgotten the milk. If Carmen hadn't said that, I would have walked in the door to my apartment only to realize I'd forgotten what I'd just humiliated my group for. (Actually, I think "humiliated" is too strong of a word, but I can't think of any other that means the same thing, just to a lesser degree. Personally, while it was embarrassing in the moment, I think my phone screaming, "GET MILK! GET MILK! GET MILK!" at me twice in the middle of a presentation is kind of funny.)

Run, turkey, run!

After finishing a big project at work today, I rewarded myself by brushing up on my Photoshop skills. I'd almost forgotten how to make an animation...

Turkey Run

(Kinda weird how the solid black flashes in and out, isn't it? Just so you know, clicking on it will solve that problem.)

I wonder if these will work

As I was cleaning out my work U drive this morning I came across three previously un-posted (I checked), never-before-seen animations (GASP)!

I'm not sure they'll work. Try clicking on them or opening them in a new tab if they don't work right away. Here goes nothing:

Basketball dribble

Car chase

Frog's lunch- it looks like this one isn't set to repeat, so you'll have to click on it.

One thing I can bake is biscuits/Jennifer gives me curls/TeddyPuppy reads

Katelyn, me, Ary

Birthday dinner for K.T.

After we graduated from high school, Sara, Mikayla, K.T. and I started a new tradition that we would treat one another to a meal for our birthdays. This year, Sara, Mikayla and I wanted to celebrate K.T.'s birthday at an extra special place because we figured it could be the last time we were all together before K.T. gets married in December. So it was sort of a "happy birthday/congratulations on getting married" dinner. We went to Olive Garden, which was delicious.

Mikayla made dessert, but immediately after dinner none of us had room to eat it. So we took a quick walk up to the Provo Temple. The sun was starting to go down and it was beautiful.

We also had fun playing with our shadows.

Return to the Magellan- daydream part three

Read Part One- Surrounded
Read Part Two- The deal

The three followed Mad Dog to the Dragon’s transporter room with the pirate’s security team hot on their heels the whole way. The Federation officers, expecting to be sent back promptly, were surprised when Mad Dog suddenly froze on the threshold and turned.

“Oh. There was one small matter I forgot to mention in the meeting. I’ll be keeping one of you here as a hostage. Just in case you’re tempted to go back on our deal.” The smug expression came over his face, but this time he did not smile.

Admiral Djurich, Captain Springer and the lieutenant commander all stiffened.

“I will not ‘go back on’ my word,” Djurich responded tartly. “You will allow all the members of my party to return to the Magellan. There is no need to take a hostage.”

Flatly ignoring her, Mad Dog made a show of looking the three of them over, as if to choose who to keep behind. “Admiral. I choose you. You will be my guest on the Dragon while the good captain and his security chief ready the shipment from the Magellan.”

“Absolutely not!” Captain Springer started to say, but Djurich cut him off.

“You already hold the lives of my entire crew in your hands, Captain. There is no need for anyone to stay here.”

Mad Dog took a half step closer, tantalizing them with his cold glare. “Maybe I want a closer hostage.”

A part of Djurich went cold, but she stared right at the pirate captain with a frosty look of her own. “That is not acceptable. If you insist on this extravagance, there will be no deal.” Djurich held Mad Dog’s gaze for a moment before going on. “Be reasonable. If you destroy the Magellan, you destroy the warp cores. Of course, you can just wait for another ship to happen along, but that could take hours. Even days. Considering the nature of the shipment you arranged for, one could assume you’re having engine trouble. You would be stuck.”

For a moment, Mad Dog was speechless with anger. Captain Springer and Lt. Cmdr. Springer, sensing trouble, immediately took steps to guard the admiral from the front and back. The captain took the front. K. Springer turned to keep an eye on the security men behind them.

“‘One could assume,’” Mad Dog repeated softly, mockingly. “You would be dead.”

“Yes,” Admiral Djurich agreed calmly. “But what use would we be to you then?”

A gleam lit Mad Dog’s eye. “It would guarantee other ships-”

“Would come here, to investigate our destruction,” Djurich parroted his words from the meeting. “Is that what you were going to say?” She moved on before he had a chance to answer. “Think about it. If Starfleet got word that an entire space station had been destroyed, they wouldn’t send just one ship to investigate- and they’ll be on their guard. It will be ten times harder to manipulate any investigating ships into a deal like I’ve got with you.”

Mad Dog’s eye narrowed. He wasn’t looking smug anymore. Djurich pressed her advantage.

“You will allow all members of my party to return to the Magellan, where we will ready the shipment of warp cores for transport. Once the goods are delivered, we will have a safe pass out of here. Are we agreed?”

The pirate scowled for almost a full minute before emitting his response in the form of a low rumble. “Agreed.” He stepped aside, allowing Admiral Djurich and her officers into the transporter room at last.

Captain Springer looked at Djurich. “Admiral?”

Knowing what he wanted, she gave him a curt nod and touched the comm badge on her chest. “Admiral Djurich to Magellan. Three to beam directly aboard the bridge... Energize.”

Djurich’s last image of Mad Dog was of him staring hungrily at them as they disappeared.

Cooking woes

It was rice this time. Despite following the instructions on the bag to a T, my rice ended up too crunchy and too salty. Rice is supposed to be easy, right?

But then again, so is Jell-O. And I've messed that up before, too.

FALSE ADVERTISING!

Sigh. The good news is, Jennifer was in charge of the meat part of dinner, so at least we (she, me, and Sara) could eat that.

Puppy nostalgia

I found this video on Facebook today. It's from 2009. It saddens me to realize I can't remember what it felt like to have him sit in my lap.

Gotta love Friday

I haven't blogged in a while. Figured a post was due, even though I don't have much to say.

Cleaning checks tomorrow. (Or in other words, in about 9 hours.) Our apartment is clean. The living room is particularly impressive, given our sucky vacuum (or not sucky, depending on how you look at it).

General conference last weekend was great! Jennifer and I spent the weekend with my family in Lehi, which was a lot of fun. :) People are still talking about the 18/19 announcement. (Which reminds me, I plan to join the hordes of young women flocking to their bishops to get started on their mission papers...soon. Mom and Dad hinted the sooner the better, so they could get me some practical stuff for it this Christmas.)

Gotta love my mom and dad.

I had a fiesta today with my Spanish conversation class. Jennifer brought the taco meat and guacamole I signed up for and then forgot, and stayed to talk and eat. I'll miss that class when it's over, which is next week, since it's only a block class (half a semester).

November is novel-writing month, when many ambitious souls attempt to write an entire novel in a month. I've never participated, but I think I want to try it this year. I just need a good idea to get me started brainstorming. Any suggestions? I have a lot of half-baked stories I plan on finishing someday, but I want to try something totally new for this. Maybe I'll write a romance novel...

Ha. That was a test. If you didn't laugh, you don't know me as well as you thought you did.

Ary raps about world peace- raw version

CREDITS
Videographer: Katelyn
Rapper: Ary
Singing the beginning of the Circle of Life: Sketti and I

Wonderful roommates... and "the new Party Rock" song

I sit here in a familiar living room- the same apartment as the one I stayed in last year- but three of the faces here were unknown until Jen and I returned from our trip to Cali the evening before classes started.

Their names: Sketti, Katelyn and Ary.

Sketti is very athletic. She's taking a lot of student activity classes this semester, is on the BYU women's rugby team and co-chairs the sports committee for our LDS ward. She's super fun and always game to fill needs around our apartment as she sees them. (She's especially diligent about loading the dishwasher. So far, I think it's almost always been her who's started it when it gets full.)

Katelyn is very kind. So far this semester, she and Sketti (they're buddies who met in Helaman Halls last year- kinda like how Jen and I are buddies who met in January of this year) have made us cookies and a couple signs with compliments for each roommate that they put up in the kitchen and on our bedroom doors. She helped me study for a jazz quiz and is tutoring Sketti in physical science. She was called to be our family home evening group "mom" and takes it very seriously. In terms of personality, she and I are pretty much as opposite as you can get: she's boy crazy, loves dressing up, doing hair and painting fingernails. Jen and I have gotten her to like City Hunter, so that's good. I'm excited for her. :)

Ary was the odd one out. The one who moved in without knowing ANYONE beforehand. Basically, she. Is. Awesome! Sara is her roommate, which I think she enjoys very much. Ary is majoring in German teaching, and since Sara loves German, they had some common ground to build on. Ary is not a shy person. She's the type that draws in everyone around her, with her wide smile and inclusive attitude. The-life-of-the-party sort of person. She's also a killer dancer.

This post is about how lucky I got with roommates this semester. Again!

These were waiting on the kitchen table when I woke up this morning. The note isn't signed, but I suspect Katelyn was behind this wonderful surprise. (I should add that we all agreed if we leave something on the table, that means it's fair game for anyone to eat.) The note says:

"My Dearest Roomies, I just wanted to tell you guys how much I love and appreciate you. It has been so great getting to know you guys over the last month. All of you are so incredibly talented and I have already learned so much from you! You guys are definitely very blessed individuals and are such strong examples of Christ and His gospel. You all astound every day with all the things you guys can pull off on a daily basis. I hope you guys understand how wonderful you are and please never forget it! You guys have shown me what it means to truly be considerate, how to really love your neighbor, how to laugh your way through life (I suspect this one may be directly inspired by me), that you can have a life and still do well in school, the importance of having a personal testimony and a firm faith in Christ, and how to be such a great example of service and pure unique talent. I really want each of you to know how much I really love you and how much I care about you! Please know how much I want to help you in any way possible and that I will be there for you no matter what! I hope that you have such a super fantastic day and that everything goes well for you. You really are talented and amazing! With love."

Yup, it has Katelyn written all over it. She's great. :)

Jennifer drew this picture to depict an idiotic YouTube video that went viral in about two days- it set a record for shortest time a YouTube video has scored a million views. It's a Korean pop song called "Gangnam Style" (pronounced gahng-nahm). I first saw it last Friday at my Book Club meeting, where I heard it described as "the new Party Rock" (you know it, the song that goes "everyday I'm shufflin', shufflin', shufflin'") because of how fast it became popular. It features a Korean man, probably in his thirties, dancing hilariously in a bunch of random places. If you look it up, be warned- there's a fair bit of suggestive dancing mixed in with the silliness.

Anyway, Jen only had to show Ary the video once for Ary to get the guy's moves down pat. I told you she's a killer dancer.

Chicken pizza, yeah

Jennifer and I made some delicious chicken pizzas yesterday using some of the dough my mother sent with me at the beginning of the year (it's been going to good use, thank you, Mom!). We bought a rotisserie chicken, green onions, bbq sauce and tomatoes (we already had garlic and ranch dressing) and made two kinds: BBQ chicken and garlic ranch. They turned out so well we used the rest of the chicken for two more pizzas after church today.

Our friend Travis in our ward came over for pizza yesterday. (He, Jen and Sara went to Avengers at the BYU Varsity Theatre. I went to a party hosted by the writing/book club I belong to.)

 Three thumbs up!

 Jen slicing pizza for our roommates today. They loved them.

Admit it. You're jealous. :)

I love it when my cooking attempts turn out well! There were no leftovers.

TeddyPuppy at work and California pictures

Finally, the moment my mother has been waiting for: a picture post!

TeddyPuppy Goes to Work
For several days in my last week at the Deseret News, I brought a friend to fill the empty chair my friend and fellow intern Michelle left behind (she left a week before I did). I made him a tie out of newspaper so he could be properly dressed for the work:

On the day I took this picture, the lady sitting next to me on the bus spied him in my backpack and commented on how cute he was. She asked if she could take a picture of him to send to her kids, who are all grown and apparently still own stuffed animals too, and then proceeded to tell me all about her three pet dogs at length. It was a fun conversation.

The few California pictures I took...

TeddyPuppy shows off the new glasses Jennifer made for him in California, posing next to one of my journalism textbooks.

Jennifer, me, Jen's Auntie Alice and Nana (who is Alice's sister) at Alice's house in California

Lucille's: Jennifer's favorite barbeque place. It was a little pricy because it was nice, but it was good.

Me, Jennifer and Jen's friend Sara H., who came with us to Lucille's

I toted TeddyPuppy around with me like a baby when Jen and I toured the Jelly Belly Factory. I'm sure there were some people who thought that was odd, but I did it anyway.

Basically, Jen and I's week in Cali was GREAT! Her parents were really generous in letting me stay with them and including me in the yummy, yummy, delicious food they cooked. :) Mmm.

A weekend in Cali

This is it: the moment Jen and I have been waiting for since the beginning of the summer, when we planned a week-long vacation at her home in California.

We got here on Saturday about 2. (Jennifer woke me and Nana, her grandma, up at 4 so we could get an early start. I would have complained more about the hour except I was too excited- and Jen was taking the first driving shift, she being used to getting up at unearthly hours for her job.) In our first few days I met her three brothers Ryan, Brandon and Max, her parents, her cat Jasmine, Auntie Alice, Uncle Aaron, and several other people who were friends and/or related somehow. We went with her family to church.

On Monday, Jen drove me to the Drapers' house, where we were quickly introduced to the newest member of the family, a little white bunny with black around her eyes and spots. Marshmallow. Jennifer stayed with me with them for two days. We gave the family home evening lesson on Monday about things we'd learned going to college. The next days were full of piano playing, game playing, and just hanging out. I stayed until Wednesday. Highlights of that sadly undocumented trip (I forgot about my camera snug in my backpack): playing cards with Lindsay and Tyler, going to Target with Lindsay and Shannon, reading a bedtime story and playing Connect 4 and Battleship with Nathaniel, late-night conversation and cards with Lindsay, and having a "You're the fill-in-the-blank in the galaxy" fight with Matthew.

"You're the funniest in the entire galaxy!"

"You're the cutest in the entire galaxy!"

"No, you're the cutest in the entire galaxy!"

Sometimes Matthew included Jen in the fight too: "You're the most beautiful in the entire galaxy!"

At Target, while we were getting Lindsay school supplies, Shannon skipped down the aisles, we made fun of the overly enthusiastic lady with the high-pitched voice that announced at five-minute intervals that the store was closing. On the way to and from, we sang Taylor Swift and "Call Me Maybe" at the top of our lungs.

I love the Drapers.

Yesterday after meeting Jen and Nana in the parking lot of Tyler's and Nathaniel's piano lessons, Jen and I dropped Nana off at Auntie Alice's, who is her sister, stopped briefly at a taqueria (yummy) and managed to get on the last tour at the Jelly Belly Factory. After that, we went back and talked to Alice and Nana (I actually fell asleep for a few minutes there) and went back to Jen's house, where we all ate dinner before Jen and I went to Jen's friend's Sara's house to watch Hunger Games and talk.

It's been fun and I'll try to check in again before Jen, Nana and I leave to go back to Utah on Sunday. We'll see.

This summer reviewed

I'm at a lull at work right now. I turned in my third-to-last story 45ish minutes ago. There are 15 minutes more until it hits the time my editor suggested for my exit interview.

It's been a wonderful summer. I've been working full time at an internship with the Deseret News. It's funny; on a day like today, my last day of work, you'd think I'd feel a little more nostalgic. Maybe it won't really sink in until Monday morning, when I plan to sleep in, in sunny California.

Five minutes. I'm hoping my source for the last two articles on my story list will email me back before 5 p.m. today. We'll see what happens.

The work atmosphere here at Mormon Times & Features is superb. Everyone is super nice. They take their work seriously, but they find ways to have a lot of fun, too. They have answered all my questions over the summer. Aaron (my editor) and Bob (another editor) have even reviewed articles for me before I turned them in because I wanted extra feedback.

Time.

Delayed. I'll go back in 40 minutes. But for now, a continuation of that review I promised you.

From my list of things editors have corrected me about:

1. Remember to put in a dateline (SALT LAKE CITY)
2. Lowercase my headlines
3. Names of newspapers don't get italicized
4. When doing Odds and Ends, always put the publication (where the information is from)
5. When reading over a finished story, look for interesting details that could be pulled up/referenced sooner
6. Be consistent with tense
7. "LDS Church," capital C
8. According to AP style, ages above 10 are spelled out (eleven-year-old, twelve)
9. Capitalize W in "Web" (Web series)
10. "Over" refers to spatial things only; "more than" is numerical
11. According to AP style, use figures with million or billion in all except casual cases: "I'd like to make a million dollars." BUT: "The nation had 1 million people."
12. If you have to use a lot of ellipses in quotes, you need to cut parts of the quote, leaving only the exceptional
13. According to AP style, abbreviate months with days (Aug. 17)
14. According to AP style, numbers below 10 are spelled out. Use figures for 10 and above
15. When it comes to millions and billions, the word "dollars" isn't needed. Just write $3 billion

Exit interview down. Aaron and Christine (assistant editor) had some good things to say about me and what I can do better.

I just reviewed my last article to see what the editor changed. I think it's some of my best work and a good note to end on.

It's time to turn this computer back in and relinquish my bus pass and name badge. Thank you for a great summer, Deseret News!

In the world of Harry Potter

I had a crazy dream last night. It went like this: me, my friends Rachel and Rebecca B. from UCAS and my friend Rachel H. from my current ward, were all Hogwarts students. We were mischievous but really smart, like four mixes of Hermione and James Potter.

In my dream, we were sneaking into Hogsmeade as animals (we were secretly all Animagi)- me as a big, shaggy dog, Rachel H. as a doe, Rachel B. as a gray owl and Rebecca as a little black monkey. Just messing around, we tried to get into Three Broomsticks, but we tripped a magical security system and were caught red-handed. The grumpy old man who caught us demanded that we turn back into people ("I know ye're students!") before he sent us back to the school, and everyone did except me. I was so flustered I couldn't think how to change back.

The man finally got tired of waiting for me and sent my friends to school without me, all the while getting more impatient as I failed repeatedly at becoming human again. The two Rachels came back a bit later with McGonagall just as I changed my mental command from, Human. Human. Turn human! to Dog. Dog. Dog.

For whatever reason, that worked immediately, and my friends and I laughed about it later, after our sentences had been handed down by Professor McGonagall.

Mara's Bridal Shower (Pictures)

Sara and Jennifer helped me plan and set up for Mara's bridal shower on Saturday, July 28. Judging by the look on Mara's face when she saw the spiedies on the grill, it was a success! (More details on the shower in my previous post- this post will just be a repeat of the photos I posted on Facebook. Reason for repeat: Sara doesn't have FB and thus would be unable to see the photos.)

 Setting up

 Kelly sucking helium

 Setting out the bridal shower Mad Libs

 A little beggar that was interested in the spiedies (chicken shishkebobs) grilling

 Sharing the Mad Libs

 Spiedies. Mmm.

 Sara asks Mara questions about her fiance Josh. For every question Mara got wrong, she had to put another piece of gum in her mouth. She answered 14 of 40 questions incorrectly.

 Mara opening presents!

 Kelly and Holly's gift

 Kelly and Holly's card

 Mara's Memory Book

 Sara posing with a spoonful of homemade vanilla ice cream

Jennifer and Mara