Sorry for Party Rockin'

I am officially bored enough to recommence blogging.  So here I am.  I'm pretty sure I have a post about last semester somewhere in my drafts that I will have to break out, because I don't feel like typing it twice.

2012 has been an awesome year so far.  I started it out in the best way I can think of, down in Tijuana, Mexico again with Charity Anywhere.  I've officially been down there four times now, and who knows, I'll probably go back.  I met a lot of cool people and had some crazy experiences!  Here's my brief summary in one long run on sentence.  I built an extra room onto a house for an elderly couple to live in, got lost and drove the hills of TJ for fun, saw a van roll over down a hill, actually made it across the border without being stopped, climbed a mountain, hopped plenty of curbs and potholes in Chester the van, played soccer in a garbage pit (several times), nearly saw someone fall off a 10-foot ladder, ate lots of tacos, drove Chester around filled with neighborhood kids and was not arrested for kidnapping (only in Mexico), slept in a hospital bed, latin danced, rode a horse on the beach, was part of a parenting team for one night, shot guns in a backyard in Nevada, and got to see/met a lot of friends!  One cool thing also was that I got to see and talk to the woman whose house I worked on back in May when I was last in Tijuana.

I have a lot more time on my hands this semester because I am no longer working at the Police Department.  I'm getting paid for my research, which is a much easier job because I pick my hours.  My roommate Brynne and I are donating plasma though too for some extra cash.  I have always had a serious fear of needles, but I've been slowly working on getting over it over the past year or two.  I think I'm officially cured now.  I figured it was something I should get over if I'm going to be sticking people with needles the rest of my life.  I'm only taking two classes plus my senior capstone so I don't really have a lot of school work.  Working on my thesis is actually more time consuming than all of my classes.  I am taking a gymnastics and a dance class though, and loving it.  I have realized, though, that I am seriously out of shape.  More than I had thought.  My body can't take the beating it used to!  So the pulled muscles and soreness has been fun.  But in all honestly I really enjoy the classes.  I'm also starting as a volunteer for hospice.  Basically I will be visiting with a hospice patient every week, just to chat, see how they are doing, and do any little things I can for them.  Once I get off my butt I'll hopefully be doing a lot of doctor shadowing as well.  I definitely planned a good, easy last semester.

I had planned on writing about my social life (see title of this post), but I'm already getting blog-exhausted (I'm not used to sitting and writing for this long!), so if you really care about that (doubtful), refer to my Facebook.  Yep.  I just used Facebook as a copout.  The moral(s) of this entire story is that this semester is going great so far, I can't believe I'm graduating, and this year should be a great one.  But please don't ask me about my plans after graduation because I'm really just winging it.  At least until medical school in Fall 2013.  Stay tuned for whatever crazy and whimsical ideas I get to fill that block of time!

Senior Year

(NOTE: This entry was written in October but not posted until January.)

You can tell the semester started because I haven't had any time to blog...that aside, I really have been pretty busy and have time for a quick update now only because it's Fall Break.  I'm busy, but happy busy.  I'm genuinely amazed at how I've been able to handle it so far actually.  I feel like my life gets exponentially busier every semester/year.  You know that scene from I Love Lucy, where Lucy and Ethel are working in the candy factory wrapping candies, and the conveyor belt keeps getting faster and faster?  That scene = my life.  So far it hasn't gotten too out of control though.  I'm taking my usual 18 credits, but somehow this semester that equates to seven classes, which mostly just makes for a lot of exams.  I'm also doing research in Dr. Chang's lab for my senior thesis, which equals about 4 credits that I'm doing the work for now (should be more but I just don't have the time) but won't show up on my transcript until next semester (so yes, that is in addition to the other 18 credits).  I'm still TA-ing for Human Physiology, but thankfully I am no long a volunteer.  This semester I was pleasantly surprised to be made the UTF, equating to a $750 check (or more likely direct deposit) in my bank account on Christmas Eve.  I'm also still working dispatch an average of 24 hours a week.  Problem is now that I've also got to fill out the Prehealth Committee Packet by December, and at some point start volunteering as a Spanish interpreter at the hospital.  Did I mention that I at some point I have to also write my 15+ page thesis?  And no pressure, because it's not like it's going to be published as an article in the school electronic library database, so it will be publicly available.  That's the part that I think I'm going to struggle finding time to do.  Everything's been working out fairly well so far though, so I'm not too worried.  Just gotta keep doing what I'm doing.  :)

I am visiting my sister in Hawaii for Thanksgiving, which will probably be the best five days of the semester, but that is yet to be seen.  I've had some pretty good ones already.  :)  I decided not to work at the Post Office this Christmas, which is going to be really weird for me.  I've done it the past three years, and loved having the money, but it starts too early this year (I won't near done with classes and finals) and I will have to make do without it.  It will be a relief to actually have a Christmas break after the chaos of this semester though.  The good part is that next semester won't be near as busy--not even close.

Summer Hobbies

So I've picked up a few new hobbies this summer because I've had a lot of free time on my hands. Without schoolwork or studying, I don't haveanything to do at work but sit there and watch endless episodes of Psych and Scrubs. That got old pretty quick. So here are a few hobbies I've picked up and a little about them:

Friendship Bracelets

My sister got me a kit with threads for friendship bracelets for my birthday and now I have like ten of them on my wrist. They are great to make while I watch TV or a movie at work and pass the time really well. I've tried some really cool patterns, but this one is my favorite so far:

Peruvian Double Wave

I've done it with just one strand in the middle too which just makes it a little smaller. Let me know if you want one because I'm running out of arm space myself haha.  I've gotten a lot of traffic looking for how to actually make these, so here's the video tutorial I used.  My only addenum to the video is she tells you to use way more thread than you really need.  I would use only about 2/3 of what she suggests just to be safe, but even then you will probably have some left over.  It is also way more important than you will first probably think to knot the threads loosely, or else you won't be able to give the base threads the zig-zag kinks and it will be a straight bracelet that is not as cool.

Gardening

At the beginning of the summer my roommates and I decided to each buy a tomato plant. We got cute pots that we decorated and everything. Well my tomato plant has well outgrown the original painted pot and little baby green tomatoes are growing! I just hooked it up to a cage today because it was getting droopy, but I think I probably need to trim the bottom of the cage so that the plant can reach the circled parts near the top. I don't think it's going to get quite as tall as Sam's (to the right). I also have a basil plant, which I put in the original painted tomato pot. I also have a hanging strawberry plant that I put on the front porch. I've still got to play around with the best place to put it though. I wish I had started everything a little earlier in the summer because it would have been cool to plant a whole garden in the ground. Alas I was too lazy to weed out the area that looks like it must have been a garden a one point in the backyard. Maybe next year!

The potted garden on the back porch and my awesome watering can.

Super Fantastic

This is the brand of tomato that I got. Sam has Mr. Stripey and I think Emily's is Celebrity. Hopefully when they are grown they taste super-fantastic.

The basil in my painted pot and the strawberries hanging out front.

A Song of Ice and Fire, by George R. R. Martin

This is an epic fantasy series that I've gotten hooked on. There are currently five novels out (with seven total planned), and I am about halfway through the fourth. HBO just finished up the first season of a TV adaptation of the series(called Game of Thrones, which is the name of the first novel), which is why the series caught my attention in the first place. This gets classified as a hobby because each book averages over 1000 pages. Yes I said EACH. They are set in an alternate reality with Middle Ages type technology. What really got me hooked is the unpredictability in the plot. There are so many characters, and so many different groups and families fighting for power that you never know what is going to happen. One thing I learned pretty quick is not to get too attached to any particular character, because George R. R. Martin has no scruples against killing off main characters like it was nothing. It will be interesting to see how he plans on ending the series, because I have no idea who will end up alive, dead, powerful, weathly, destitute, etc. It's sort of anything goes. Warning: they are definitely for mature audiences.

MISC

I am also volunteering in a lab on campus testing antibacterials on various bacteria and growing C. Elegans (basically a type of little worm). I don't count that necessarily as a hobby though haha. I drive a lot back and forth between Logan and Murray but I hate it so that hardly counts as a hobby. I've only got one more month before school starts back up again, but who knows what other hobbies I might dig up before then.

Summer of Travels

It's been a crazy past few weeks. Out of the last five weeks I have spent about seven sporadic days at home. I've traveled over 17,000 miles. I've traveled by car, bus, train, cable car, plane, boat, funicular, bike, scooter, subway, and my own feet. I loved every minute of it. I can't get enough of traveling. But let's get into some more specifics.

First I traveled south to Tijuana, Mexico. It was definitely a last minute trip. A friend of mine asked me if I would like to go down to help with a construction group from Orem about a week before I had to leave. Miraculously, I had already gotten that week off of work for no particular reason except to have my work schedule more consolidated so I surprised him by saying yes. A few days after this my friend Brandon heard about the trip and also fortuitously already had the week off of work, so he decided to join. We picked up the A-Team van from the Charity Anywhere Consignment Store in St. George (where we spent the night on couches--interesting experience) and made our way to Mexico. We ended up helping a group of home schooled high school kids from Orem and a few of their parents complete projects at three separate sites. We didn't get as much done as we had planned at the beginning of the week, but that's how these things go. I was able to insulate and sheetrock a room that was added onto the house of a family of five (previously the house had been all one single room). It was definitely a hectic week because I was left in charge of the group starting Wednesday. So I did a lot of driving around and paying people haha. I definitely feel like I know my way around Tijuana now though! It took almost 24 hours to get back to Logan due to various delays like needing new tires and the traffic caused by Tijuana's soccer team winning a playoff game right as we were trying to get through the downtown area. On the way home we ended up sleeping in the back of the van at a truck stop in Vegas because we were too tired to make it to St. George. All in all it was a great trip though and hopefully I can get back down there soon.

After Mexico I spent a few days working in Logan before I headed back out west to San Francisco. My cousins Missy, Owen, and I drove out and met our cousin Jessie in San Francisco. Jessie goes to school in Oregon so we figured it was sort of a meet in the middle kind of thing (even though it wasn't quite in the middle). We spent the weekend sightseeing and shopping. We ended up cutting the trip a day shorter than planned, but it actually worked out pretty well. We got to see everything we wanted to see. I bought way too many things, but that isn't anything new! Haha. We went to the Wharf, Golden Gate Bridge and Park, Chinatown, and Carnivale. A trip to meet Jessie has sort of become a Memorial Day tradition for us, and this year definitely topped last year. Maybe next year will even beat this year!

After San Francisco I went back to Logan for a few days to work again, and then changed directions to head east for ITALY!!! My family and I spent two weeks traveling around Italy. We started in Venice. Our hotel room (well at least Savanna and I's hotel room...) had a great view from two sets of windows. Unfortunately the hotel was on the Lido island, which was about a ten minute boat ride to the islands where St. Mark's Square and most of the sightseeing was, but we were still able to make it out there enough to see a lot. We saw a glass-blowing demonstration that was really cool. We weren't able to take a gondola ride though because it rained pretty badly. We were able to visit two other islands called Burano and Torcello. The houses on Burano are all brightly colored in different colors, and their trademark is handmade lace. Torcello is a quieter island, with a few middle ages churches and buildings. My sister wants to get married there now haha. Personally though, the middle ages churches creeped me out. I think Catholic art from the period is disturbing, and I think it's weird that they keep body parts from dead saints as relics in glass cases. After Venice we headed south to Florence. I loved Florence. I loved the atmosphere. I loved that you could be walking past a bunch of little shops, turn a corner, and BAM, there was Santa Maria del Fiore. The cathedral was huge, and decorated much differently than other churches I have seen. I loved the green, white, and reddish marbles they used. Savanna and I hiked 426 steps to the top of it and had a fantastic view of Florence. We were also able to see Michaelangelo's David in Florence. It was enormous and very cool to see. While in Florence we took a day trip to see Pisa. I know this sounds stupid, but that tower really leaned! A lot more than you would expect, even from the pictures. We laughed at all the people that were standing on the lawn in front of it taking pictures of themselves "holding it up." We had the best gelato of my life in Florence. It was from a place called Vivoli's, which was near the Santa Croce church. It really was to die for. My only complaint about Florence was the rain. It rained almost every day, and it rained harder than I have ever seen. While the rain was really cool because it was so heavy and the thunder was really loud, we didn't have a lot of time there to spend and the rain made it hard to sightsee. A few funny experiences from Florence: one, a few members of the cast of the Jersey Shore were getting tattoos in a parlor right next to Savanna and I's favorite 99 cent store (haha...yes...) while we were shopping for lunch snacks; two, I heard one of the best pickup lines while we were walking through the market. A guy selling some purses (I think it was purses) said to me as I walked past, "Hey you dropped something." When I turned around to see what I had dropped he said, "My heart." I couldn't help laughing at that. After Florence we spent a day in Orvieto, which is an old city (used to be Etruscan) that was used by popes in the past as a country retreat. The city is built on hundreds of underground tunnels. We were able to tour a few of them, but most of them are used/owned now by residents. The city is on top of a hill, and had great views of the surrounding countryside. After a day in Orvieto, we headed to Rome. I also really loved Rome, but there were way too many other tourists for my liking. Rome was incredible because it's set on hilly landscape, so the buildings are staggered vertically. It also has literally thousands of years of history and architecture all thrown together. All in one view, you can see ruins from the Roman Empire, palaces from the middle ages, and structures built by Mussolini. There is something incredible about seeing Roman structures towering between the more modern buildings. The first day we arrived in Rome the EuroPride parade was happening right outside our hotel, which was really cool to see, but it did make it hard to get to the hotel (well mostly to get our bags to the hotel). Lady Gaga also performed a few songs that night at the Circus Maximus for the event! When everything sort of settled down, we saw the Colosseum, Roman Forum, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Twin Churches, Circus Maximus, Mouth of Truth, etc. We also spent a day at The Vatican. We were fortunate enough to drive past the Vatican a few times when it was dark, and I think that is when it is at its best esthetically. St. Peter's looks really impressive lit up. I can't believe the size of the cathedral either. We also had an authentic Italian dinner in Rome. We literally had like 10 courses. They started by bringing us assorted salamis that we cut ourselves (which put my mom in heaven) and the food did not stop coming. It was definitely our best meal of the trip, quality-wise as well as quantity-wise. Towards the end of the trip we took a train our to Naples, where we had some delicious pizza and gnocchi (for half the price in any other city we had been in!), but Naples was also very dirty in the sense that there were literally piles of garbage everywhere on the street. From Naples we took a train to Herculaneum, which was an ancient city that was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. They had some very cool ruins. Herculaneum is smaller than Pompeii, but it also has better preserved ruins. Next we headed to Pompeii. I really enjoyed Pompeii. It was enormous. I loved walking down the completely intact streets. It almost felt like we were back in time. The last day in Rome was a little lazy. We just saw the last few things we had left to see and did a lot of sleeping. We did see a very cool church that day called the Capuchin Crypt. It contains the remains of about 4,000 monks. The strange but very cool (in my opinion) thing they've done is decorate six rooms with the bones of these monks. The decorations were beautiful, if a little morbid. The last room held a message in several languages that reads, "What you are now, we used to be; what we are now you will be..." It really was surprisingly beautiful, as creepy as that sounds.

As soon as we got back from Italy I spent the weekend in Park City for Jocie's Bachelorette Party. It was a lot of fun! We mostly did a lot of talking, but it was good to catch up with everyone. Now I'm back in Murray until the wedding on Thursday and I will be heading back up to Logan. It's really sort of sad how little I've spent at my house there in Logan, but I should be there a lot more after this week. I'm not sure how I feel about being back for the for the foreseeable future. We'll see how long I last before I decide it's time to leave again!

Spring Break in Tijuana, Mexico

I know I'm a little late in posting this, but better late than never, right? I spent my Spring Break in Tijuana, Mexico doing charity construction. I went on the same trip two years ago as well. It really was an amazing experience. I worked on two different projects. First we fixed a roof by re-shingling one section and reframing and re-shingling another. I'd never done roofing before, but I caught on pretty quick. For the second project we framed and closed off the front wall of a restaurant. The restaurant's profits go to a children's home nearby. It was originally built to be open air, but because of this they had to move everything into a back room with a door on it every night so it wouldn't be stolen. So we closed it off and put a door with a lock in.

The group that went was a lot bigger than the last time I went, and we were also allowed to do a lot more around Tijuana. We went downtown twice and did some shopping, dancing, etc. The weather was really nice. I wasn't expecting the sun and warmth, so I got a pretty good sunburn (yes with a great t-shirt line). We slept on the roof a few nights, which was fun. The stars and the sunrise (at least when it wasn't cloudy) were really pretty. We weren't able to go to the beach though, due to the earthquake in Japan. I got to use my Spanish a lot more than I was expecting, which was good. We had less Spanish speakers than I was expecting. It really was an awesome week and I hope I can go back again!