Celebrities....almost.

During dinner last night, my roommates were bragging about church authorities that they've met. One kept trying to top the other.

"I saw Elder Uchtdorf at a conference six months ago."
"Oh, really? That's awesome! I shook President Hinckley's hand at a devotional last year."
"No kidding! You got to shake his hand?? Elder Packer gave me a hug once. AND, this was pretty exciting, but Mitt Romney was in my room while I was in Jerusalem for study abroad. I wasn't in my room, but he was in it."

After a few minutes of this, I felt like I needed to chip in my two cents as well. But then I was slightly panicked because I couldn't think of any general authorities that I've met. I mean, of course I saw president Hinckley at a devotional once, but that sounds super lame after all of the AWESOME meet and greets the others were boasting about. Finally, I could feel the eyes turning towards me, all of them just waiting for me to top all of their comments with some spectacular revelation about the experience I had. For a split second, I thought about making something up. I mean, it's not like they'd ever find out whether or not I really sat next to President Monson on the bus once. Or that after the bus ride, he took such an interest in me he just had to invite me to dinner with his family. But, alas, I remembered that I am a terrible liar. So I spit out the truth. The truth being that the only "celebrity" experience I have ever had was when Donny Osmond shook my hand and thanked me for playing so well in the pit during his son's performance in Secret Garden.

Lessons

To those of you who didn't know, I've been living in the FLSR (or as Bret likes to say, The FLISH) for the summer. I am the native speaker for the Chinese house. It's been an interesting experience so far. I'd like to think that they've been learning lots from me. But I'll be honest. After being forced (for my own good) to move from Taiwan to the United States when I was in second grade, I wasn't left with a lot of language skills to teach. I'm actually certain that I've been learning more from them than they've been learning from me. A couple of lessons I've learned are:

1. It's a fun game to see just how high you can stack the garbage on top of the garbage can before it's necessary to start putting trash on the ground NEXT to the garbage can.

2. It is incredibly difficult to put a new roll of toilet paper on the toilet roll dispenser. it's much easier to put the new roll on the ground and bend down each time you need it to use it.

Those were really the only ones worth mentioning. I can't wait to share these lessons with my family when I move home.

Golf Carts

This post has nothing to do with golf. It's more so about the fact that every time I see a golf cart filled with prospective BYU students and their parents touring our lovely campus, I feel like I'm in the movie Stepford Wives. But instead of being around "perfect wife" robots, I'm surrounded by "perfect student" robots. It makes me want to run around and create some sort of scene to see if I get any reaction other than disapproval. And hopefully at the same, make those prospective students think twice about wanting to go to BYU. And not just BYU, they should really think long and hard before applying to any university they'll be stuck in for the next four years....or five if you're an underachiever like me.

I'd rather be bald.

I'm going to whine just a tiny bit. If you're surprised, obviously you're not a faithful reader of this blog. Which is okay. I'm still grateful that you come by to visit every once in a while. Heaven knows SOMEONE should.

I just spent 45 minutes giving myself what my Asian ethnicity should have given me naturally: Straight hair. I know what you're thinking, "45 minutes and her hair always looks like that??" And yes, after a better part of an hour, my hair just looks...hopefully regular. So you can imagine what it looks like before my strenuous regimen every morning. Don't think I'm shallow please. If you think about it, I'm trying not to scare you to death with my frizzier than Medusa hair, so I'm really spending 45 minutes of my morning saving lives. Also, I tried out some curls the other day. The article I was reading told me it was supposed to give me the "just woke up natural waves" look. Yeah. It took me an hour and a half to look like I just "rolled out of bed."Still, it was cute. To the men who read this blog, be grateful most of you just get out of the shower, run some gel/hairspray/pomade/other feminine product through your hair and call it good. I'm very jealous.

One last note. I saw the other day that Paula Deen is coming out with a furniture line. Good. I was in need of a good couch made of butter.

It Must Be Said

This blog was never intended to be a place to rant about nor to promote politics. (You might try The Progressive Perspective if you are looking for a refreshing point-of-view.) However, I feel that if my conservative Facebook friends, blogger friends, relatives, acquaintances, postal worker, and religious authority can complain, I might as well show opposition. Why is it that March 21, 2010 has been deemed "a sad day in history", a SAD day for America, a step toward political oppression? Yes, the reform has flaws. Anyone who denies that is wrong. But, it is a start in the right direction. I'd like to share these words to show how uneducated many, if not all, of us are in regard to healthcare reform:

"Today I have to say it is a SAD day for America....congress passed the health care reform bill....bring on the socialism. Health care plans like this seem to be working so well around the world, NOT! What have we done? The majority of the those who passed this bill have admitted to not knowing what was in it or how it would even work....and they want the IRS to run it....like they know what they are doing.....so it is a SAD day for America. I can't wait to see how this all works out, because medicare is working so well....once again those of us in the middle will get nothing but gouged by the rich- insurance companies and the the poor, who know how to work the system."

I only link this to show that I did not make it up. Read it if you want. I am tired of hearing all the bitching. Until now, I have ignored the patronizing comments of my fellow Christians (or in my case, Mormons). Jesus would never want the best for his brother. After all, healthcare coverage would mean one less opportunity to heal the sick. And Jesus was only as good as his healing miracles, right? The rest of the stuff he did was all for show. But seriously, no one cried "boo" when Bush did this, this, or this. Ok, ok, I'm turning into one of them. If you support this legislation, even in the slightest, let people know. After I read this post I have to say I felt no shame in supporting this move toward "socialism". Now, I feel sad for those that just don't get it (me included). So, become educated. Ask questions. Demand answers. I think FDR put it right when he said that this United States is not the finished product, but that we are still in the making. But, let's just leave it at that.

We will return to normal operation soon. Ninja, the ball is in your court.

"My name is Jayne, and I'm from....."

Every time someone asks me where I'm from, I will say one place, and then quickly follow it up with another place. Which is then followed up by an explanation of why I can't make up my mind. I was born in Taipei, Taiwan and I moved to Utah with my parents when I was 7 years old. With my background, it's always been difficult for me to decide on "where I'm from". Some people make it easy on me by asking, "What's your ethnicity?" But I would never expect everyone I meet to be so "politically correct." I'm not offended in any way when people ask me where I'm from. I'm delighted that people are interested in me. At least for that first 5 minutes until they find out that other than my ethnicity, there's really nothing all that special about me. I've tried ever since I've arrive on the shore of America to defy all Asian stereotypes. You know the ones I'm talking about.

1.Incredible intelligence
2. Always dedicated....to school work.
3.Terrible Driver.
4. Fresh Off the Boat (FOB) dress standards.

Ok, fine. I've only manged to defy three of those. I think I'm an excellent driver. But Spencer will tell you that I'm only mediocre. And only on my good days. I do still keep in touch with my Asian roots though. And I also support the seemingly quirky things that Asians (including myself) constantly do. However, there are certain things that I cannot abide with. One of these being OBNOXIOUSLY decorated stationary. I recently received a letter from a Korean friend on a mission. She sent me three pages of stationary with 75 % of the page with little animals and flowers. She squeezed some writing onto the bottom left corner where there were 4 lines for words. Had she just used a regular piece of paper, she would have been able to just use one page. Obviously my people do not believe in saving trees.

You can't deny that sometimes they are pretty cute though.

Faceless Shame

One of my favorite blogs has been particularly entertaining as of late. There is humor, there is sass, there is the answer to all of life's little problems. One particular entry from this past week has stuck with me.

Read it.

You'll relate.

And it got me to thinking, where is my place in this world? I've had to accept a few realities and let me tell you, accepting them was NO easy task.
1) I am quite plain. I don't do much in the world worth tooting a horn. However, I do my part in society-- pay my taxes, conserve energy, help the old lady cross the road...but, in all honesty, I don't do much.
2) I do not inspire. In fact I do quite the opposite, I "despire". Sure, you think it is hard to inspire, try to despire someone. It is nearly impossible.
3) I am unable to make a difference. When I was a boy scout and we had a service project I was the one picked to announce the event. I could sweet talk any one of my fellow scouters to attend that service outing. But, when the day of service came, I worried more about the refreshments than the actual project. Just the other day I signed up for President Obama's emails. This past week I received 3-4 each day asking me to call my representative. Did I? NO, AND I WAS PLEASED WITH MYSELF!

Spring is around the corner. I took this picture while enjoying an outing in my parent's backyard with my nephews.

Hard Hitting News

I saw Princess and the Frog last night with my friend Mackenna. It was cute. Before the movie started, there was a preview for this movie. I am not ashamed at all to admit that I WILL be seeing this when it goes straight to DVD.

Speaking of Killer whales, the Today Show informed me that a SeaWorld Trainer was killed by one yesterday. That's really sad. My thoughts go out to her family. However, on a lighter note, is there anything better than waking up to Matt Lauer in the mornings?

I Always Walk With A Purpose

Today my sister texted me with an attached picture of my nephew. He had a huge grin; his head was all mouth! The caption below the picture made me grin too. He had finally lost his tooth. The story of how the tooth actually fell out of his mouth is rather vague. From what my sister could gather, he was at school and there were M&Ms involved. I don't see the problem of knowing all the details. It fell out didn't it? Well, there is more to the story.

Let me back up--This kid was defiant. He just wanted to let the tooth stay. However, his permanent tooth was waiting for NO ONE. Sooner or later his permanent tooth was going to overshadow his baby tooth. Could you imagine the terror of flossing that double decker? It would take specialized tools created from the ore of the moon's core and fashioned after the weapons of the early Soviet Union. But honestly, he stood in the bathroom and convinced that tooth it would never have to come out. I'm quite sure he ordered said tooth a hot tub and a personal masseur if it would just stay in his mouth. No blood, no pulling, no twisting. Just one tooth piggybacking a much larger tooth.

And this one picture made me think, "I'm just as stubborn as my nephew." It took that picture, his resistance, and those M&M's to wake me up. It was like being tapped on the forehead by my brother while he is yelling "NAME 10 FRUITS". Like my nephew's tooth, all this time I thought I was going nowhere. Thanks Tom for eating those M&M's or having them thrown at you or just yanking it out. You can move on and let your teeth grow in and I can move on and chuckle about the time I stood behind you in the bathroom and said to you while you had a tissue in your mouth, "twist more to the right...yep, keep twisting...now to the left...is it making a popping noise? I can't wait for pimples!"

You're A Jerk You're Jerk You're A Jerk You're Jerk

Do you ever have those days when you wish you dropped your phone in the toilet so you could admit to not wanting to pay $200 for a new one just so you didn't have to deal with the crap that comes through texts and calls? I know I have. And today was just one of those days. Had I just not turned on my phone then maybe my heart wouldn't be so angry. Yet, something good came from it all--the "Declaration of Stupidity". I share with you what should have been taught in elementary schools and is probably taught in Sweden anyway.

Declaration of Independence:
I denounce all stupidity. This includes mainly the stupidity of others but may include my own stupidity.

Stupidity is, but is not limited to, lack of cultural courtesy, intentional social blunderings, the purposeful (or not) proving of stereotypes, and just plain moronic-ness.

Along with said denunciation, I choose to end all supportive behaviors of stupidity: peer pressure, altered judgments, diseased minds, immaturity, and even truth/dare games.

I promote honesty, integrity, fairness, change, goodness, and reality.

Signed this 2nd day of November 2009 (too early to really matter).

That said, I'd like to say one thing to you, Internet. I value integrity. I know its a lost virtue in, well, pretty much every culture but, I have a small ounce of hope that there is some integrity left in almost everyone (except for Glenn Beck, he's just an ass). In short, just don't be so lame all the time! (You know who you are. Yeah, you hiding behind your dunce hat and rose colored glasses. That's right, I followed the trail of disdain that drips from your mouth onto the floor. You should really get that checked out.)

On that note, I cancel the video of the week because it was a failure. No, actually it was a two week long success! So, suck it! However, I will leave you with one of the most inspirational music videos of the millennium (too far?).