the greatest (and simplest) year EVER!!!

for some reason, this year i've felt a great need to establish some good new year's resolutions. frankly, this baffles my mind. at one point, my father told me that one major difference between my brother and i was the fact that he was really goal oriented and i am not. (hence the lack of resolutions in my life.) a few years ago i set one resolution and that was to read THE MIRACLE OF FORGIVENESS. i actually did it. yay me. the next year, my resolution was to get in shape and read JESUS THE CHRIST. not going to lie-those resolutions fizzled...rapidly. this year, however, i have felt an aberrant motivation to set some goals. i suppose this could result from some of the resolutions that i have heard others set for this year-for example:
1) the 18-year-old heroin addict that tells his mom he's going to get clean this year;
2) the woman who is tired of never completing her resolutions sets the resolution to make and keep weekly goals rather than the BIG 5 for the year;
3) "the plunger of shame"-a roommate goal to get healthy in 2009; or
4) the sleep-deprived woman who says she's going to sleep more.
be it because of one of these goals, or some internal need for progression, goals have been on my mind for the past 18+ days. i'd thought about them to the point of giving up on articulating them in way that any brain besides my own could comprehend. ultimately, it was a talk in sacrament meeting today that solidified my thoughts. the topic was 'if ye are prepared, ye shall not fear'. our high councilman talked about how having an attitude of optimism reinforces the faith necessary to feel peace in an uncertain world.(wow. that sounded long and complicated. really, it wasn't.) the thing that stood out in my mind was that we should do something daily to prepare ourselves physically, mentally, and spiritually. (PERFECT!!! he stated it so well!) with my current job, i don't feel like i'm progressing like i could/should/want to. i realize this because i come home emotionally hammered, but that's just about it. i don't feel like my brain has been stretched. i lay in bed at night with something nigh unto restless leg syndrome and think "wow. i should stand more." really-living in a world that is full of nothing but emotions is highly over-rated and frankly, painful. for this cause, i am setting one, 3-part resolution for myself this year. i will do one thing daily to better myself physically, mentally, and spiritually. i don't know whether that means that i will be running a marathon or taking the stairs this year. really, i may go back to school this year, or could just read more REAL books and less fluff. i could read all the sunday lessons before sunday, or i could write my own topical guide with cross-references to catholicism, judaism, and/or evangelical doctrines. i think, this is why i love 2009. the possibilities are endless. i can make of this year exactly what i want it to be. i just hope that i take advantage of every opportunity that i am given and make the most of it.

moments of bliss...

today was my work christmas party. yes, i do realize that it january. we went snow shoeing. it was my moment of bliss for the week. i was perfectly happy. god's creations, good friends, amazing food...total contentment.

observations...

because i have no idea as to what i want to be when i grow up, i have been re-evaluating my life and what i want to do with it. always an adventure. these moments are always exciting-not going to lie. really, the final conclusion i have for this week is that i just need to be aware of the opportunites/options that i have in my life. these are some of my most recent thoughts.
1) as cool as modern medicine is, laughter is a million times better.
2) i'm a horribly superficial friend. (ask me straight up, i'll tell you exactly why i'm using you.)
3) it's all about the lord's timing.
4) my attitude/response is really the ONLY thing i can control in some situations. make the best of it.
5) it really is in my mentality/ability to do anything i want to (case in point, the "i'd like to think i could"s).
there really are so many other things that i've realized, but because my brain has reached a ludicrusly low level of usage/comprehension (my brain age on the nintendo ds is 73), they aren't currently floating around in my brain patterns. i'm sure they'll come out another time.

lessons from mozart.

Tonight I went to the symphony and had a few realizations. Initially, my thought of a symphony is a hall full of 80-90 musicians all playing the original works of Mozart, Beethoven, or some other classic composer. The first piece they played tonight diffused that idea completely. It was a modern piece. I liked it a lot. The thing that really caused me to think was the actual number of musicians on the stage. There couldn't have been more than a dozen. There was one of everything except the violin (there were two). This gave me the opportunity to realize the power of good acoustics in a musical hall. I was in the back corner of the first tier-not exactly close to the stage, but I heard every instrument, every pluck of every string. I was amazed. The music was beautiful. I also remembered an article I once read about a woman in a choir. She was lamenting the fact that she wasn't the lead soprano, but was a supporting alto. She was saddened by the fact that she wouldn't shine in the performance, but then had the realization that the performance couldn't go on without her. Every note counts and the notes that she sang, while not the lead solo, were important to the song. It would be incomplete without her. Awwww. Warm fuzzy moment. Anyhow...other thoughts that I had resulting from my night of finer things...
1) I was destined to play the timpani.
2) Concert hall's have some pretty incredible acoustics.
3) The cymbal and the triangle, while very different, both have a sound that carries quite well.
4) Music has an INCREDIBLE influence on the mentality and demeanor of people.
5) Musicians are their own class of people.
6) I should never play the timpani...I'd probably hit myself in the head with the mallet.

quality time...

"how i've spent my quality time this week" or "my mother would be so proud"
point 1)
hi. i pride myself in my recent trend in agility-and when i say recent, i mean the past 8-9 years. when i was a young one, if there was a patch of ice with in a mile radius, i could find it and flatten myself on it. i then spent some time in rexburg, idaho. ha. anyone who knows rexburg, idaho knows that ice is a way of life and the only way to successfully survive a storm there is to admit your own inadequacy and work around it. (that's code for-i fell twice in a month and then learned how to live with it. haven't fallen since.) this month, i have met my match. my current parking lot is an accident waiting to happen. yesterday, after an extra long day at work, i came home with the simple desire of dinner and a nap. i parked on the far side of the parking lot with the intent of parking on a dry spot and not an ice rink. mission accomplished. five steps later, i was on my hands and knees. the khaki's were no longer khaki and my knee currently has a bluish tint to it. happiness. so much for the trend, right? i choose to consider it quality one-on-one time with my parking lot. we're friends, right? yeah, that's what i thought.
point 2)
my mother taught me well as a small child. my room always has the appearance of cleanliness for one simple reason-i make my bed daily. for some reason, an orderly bed gives the appearance of organization and tidiness. the past week has not been an example of that. coming home from the holiday, my flight was delayed and seriously...it threw off my whole week. instead of having time to get a good nights sleep and unpack before returning to work, i ended up crashing on a couch and going back to work in travel clothes. happiness, i know. i emptied my suitcase and life just kept going. last night, i finally got caught up. when i finally made my bed i found the following things inside: 3 tubes of lotion, 1 pillow, 1 wash cloth, 1 hat, 1 stick of chapstick, 2 decks of cards, 1 flashlight, and an assortment of papers and receipts. good grief! i've been sleeping in a junk drawer. i'm sorry. it had to stop. i cleaned my room. yay me! i did my laundry and finally UNPACKED! it took a while, had to find the quality moment, but i think my mother would have been proud.

ridiculous.

it's 20 degrees warmer today than it was yesterday, thereby enabling the most recent 6+ inch snowfall. i can't feel my toes.

mission impossible?

really the basis of this entry started in november. i walked in to work about a week before thanksgiving and the girl i share an office with was chuckling to herself. her mother-in-law had called the night before requesting "3, maybe 4, no 5 ought to do it" butterball turkey breasts. i suppose this should be prefaced. the mother-in-law lives in california. to comply with the request, it would require a suitcase full of frozen poultry. as we chatted over this concept we laughed to the point of tears. not going to lie, the concept of turkeys going though the x-ray machine nearly knocked us off our chairs. luckily for her, the local grocers-ALL OF THEM-we not stocked to supply the needed poultry and her mission failed.
two weeks later i went with a friend of mine to drop her brother off at the airport. at that point i witnessed him stuff a bag of food from mcdonalds into his hoodie to try and sneak it in through airport security. i thought that was amusing to begin with. then the roommate told me that the day before he had snuck an entire pizza into a movie theater. now THAT, i would like to see.
i've pretty much given up on driving home. the drive nearly kills me every time, so i've taken up flying...with gas prices as they have been, the price is actually competitive. flying home for christmas i sat next to a woman that made me think of the past two stories. her final destination was houston for christmas part 2 with her daughter. she shared with me the fact that her suitcase was currently housing a ham, swedish meatballs, and five cans of stephens hot cocoa. wow. she wins. no contest. i have yet to decide whether or not i want to play the game, but apparently i have quite the load to live down...
the things we do for food.