I Wish I Could Brofist a Pterodactyl

Yeah, so this is a pretty random post but I just couldn't help myself after listening to this song. First, I must pay respect where respect is due, Thank you Adam and Michael for introducing me to this song via Facebook. Not only is this song pretty good but it sums up my childhood perfectly. While other little girls were dressing up dolls and pretending to be a Princess I was reading dinosaur books and watching Animal Planet or Discovery Channel. Yes, even from a young age I was a little nerd. Those were the good old days. I distinctly remember going to the library and checking out tons of books on dinosaurs. Now for those of you who know me well also know that I have a knack for remembering facts about animals. In this case I became a bit obsessive over MY yes MY dinosaurs. By the age of 7 I could tell you everything you would ever want to know about Dinosaurs and even more that you never knew or cared to know. My goal in life was to be a paleontologist and dig up super cool dinosaur bones in some desert around the world. Yep, I thought that would be pretty fantastic. 

We had this area in our backyard that was just dirt and for Christmas when I was 5 I asked for Tonka Trucks, specifically a dump truck and a "digger" as I called them. Christmas morning arrived and while feverishly ripping the beautifully wrapped paper off the present I got my Tonka trucks!

 









On a fine spring day I grabbed them and set out to go play in the dirt. With my trusty plastic shovel in hand I embarked on my own Dig. I scouted out the site and began the excavation process. I must have been out there for far too long because it started getting dark. My mom called my name and when I emerged all covered in dirt she was shocked. "Where have you been? I've been so worried." Smiling I took her to show her my masterpiece. There in the dirt I had dug a giant hole that I could easily sit in. It was then that I noticed a small cut on my finger from the shovel. It had been all caked with dirt and it wasn't until now that I felt the pain. Unfortunately, on this dig I did not discover a new scaly friend's remains. Maybe one day.... Kind of funny how your dreams and aspirations change from when you were 5 until the time you are in college. 

Random Fact: Crayola is a French word that means "Oily chalk."

The Hangout Syndrome

For young people it is hard to get your foot in the door and start that friendship. The world has shifted from personal dating to texting and "Let's hang out". We have lost the ability to communicate. We are afraid to put ourselves out there due to our heart being broken or seeing our friend's heart being broken. Fact of the matter is you WILL be hurt. Someone will crush your heart, crumple it, like a wad of paper and throw it away. If you don't put yourself out there you will remain that same fragile person, your expectations will never change, and you may never meet that person you are meant to love forever. To be quite frank it is sad. There are so many people who complain but aren't willing to put themselves out there and when they are they can't find someone who is willing to do the same. I know it is scary. Trust me, it scares me to death to trust someone with my heart. But, through those heartbreaks it will bring you to someone who you will love for eternity. You'll be a better person for the pain that you have been through.

Come on guys... don't make the girls ask you out on dates. Buck up and become a man, ask them out too. Don't just say, "Hey you wanna hang out some time?" Be frank, say "Hey I like you let's go on a date." Then set a date! Also a big mistake guys make is they call a girl and ask her out with nothing planned and then ask her what she would like to do. Come on.... if you are going to take the initiative to ask a girl out that you like it is common courtesy to have the date planned too. When you call, yes call, to ask her out be polite if she turns you down. Don't text her to ask her out, that is just lame. Also when you go to pick her up don't just honk the horn to tell her you are there. Seriously, any guy who does that I will not go out with. I want a man not a boy. If I am going to set aside time to go out with a guy it is the least he can do to take a few steps from his car and come up to my door. I mean is that really too much to ask?

Dates can be simple. In fact I prefer those. The high stress dates with dinner and a dance often turn out to be dudds more than studds. I'm totally up for just going hiking or simply hanging out at a park. Service projects are also fun dates. Still, you can't always go on group dates with people if you expect to get to know that special someone. There is always distractions. It can be really hard to get to know them on a deeper level and actually open up in that setting. I'd definitely recommend a mixture of the two because it is good to see how they interact with others too. Movies are terrible dates if you are trying to get to know someone you just met unless it is paired with something else where you can actually talk and interact. You can't really talk in a dark movie theater without being rude. Respect the girl or guy and their schedule. If the date was originally for dinner and a movie keep it to that. Don't drag it on forever or you may not get another date. Save it for another date. Most importantly have fun! Well that's all for my rant for now. Enjoy going out there and dating everyone :)

Random Fact: The international telephone dialing code for Antarctica is 672. "Hello, this is a penguin, who's calling?"

A Million Bucks $$$

Now I always here stories about people trying on that one dress and feeling like a movie star but I had never really had that happen to me until today. It may be a mixture of all the cold medication I am on which just made the experience all the more surreal. My sister and I have had dresses made by a lady here in Thailand. Her company is called Pauljina and she does amazing work. Two of my dresses that I own are custom designed by her. They make me feel like a princess when I wear them but today it was different.

Mina and I walked into the shop with our designs in hand. Our first request was simple, a black pencil skirt. You would be surprised how hard it is to find one that is actually to the knee and decently priced. Once we had that all squared away we had Pauljina price out a few other dresses. I had brought in some pictures that I had found of beautiful traditional Thai dresses. After being a bit taken aback by how expensive it would be to get one made we decided to just look around the shop. She has several dresses on display that are either being made for people or are being sold. Mina found a fun dress that she's going to wear to the December dance. I won't spoil what it looks like though but she will look amazing!

My mom pulled out this one dress that was stunning. It has black lace sleeves nearly to the wrist overlayed a champagne satin fabric. We thought it was beautiful and vintage looking. Immediately I thought of Pride and Prejudice. Probably cause I am reading that book right now but seriously it looks like something similar that they would wear. We didn't think much of it though because after looking at the price we moved on. It wasn't outrageous but we weren't really looking to buy a new dress. Pauljina had noticed Mina admiring her soon to be stunner dress and told us that they were on sale for only 1000 baht. For those of you not familiar with the conversion of baht to dollar it is about 30 baht to 1 US dollar. 1000 baht is approximately 30 dollars. When we found this out you can imagine the pandemonium that occurred. Through squeals of excitement we made Mina try it on. She protested at first claiming it wouldn't fit or look good on her. Low and Behold she looked amazing! With a few alterations to it she will be quite the catch. ;-)

Gathering up the courage we asked about the dress my Mom and I had been eyeing. It too was on sale for about 1500 Baht or 50 US dollars. At that moment my jaw nearly dropped to the floor. Something that elegant for that price? You're kidding right? Racing across the room I snatched the dress off the rack and headed to the dressing room. As I emerged from the drapes I stared at my reflection in the mirror. Is that me? No... couldn't be! It fit perfectly! Minus a few little alterations here and there (it has to be taken in a few notches) it was flawless. The delicate black lace overlay combined with the rich champagne gold satin made me feel sophisticated. Before my eyes a red carpet appeared and I pranced down it. Yes, it was as if this dress had been tailor made for me. When it is finished it really will be! I'm still in shock from the amazing deal we got on the dress in the first place. It easily could be worth over $200 in the U.S. Guess this means I will just have to go to a few of the fancy dances at BYU :) Now I just need to find a date.....

Random Fact: The term "OXYMORON" is itself an oxymoron because oxy means sharp and moron means dull.

What if...

Well on the way home from work I was sitting there listening to my iPhone and this song came on. I dunno just got me thinking. Nearly every girl on this planet thinks about who they want to marry one day and where they might be at that moment in time. It may be that cute guy in your Chem class for all you know! It could happen to anyone. You even find yourself with your best friend from diaper age. Perhaps you haven't even met them yet or know their name. I dunno this song just got me thinking. Don't count anyone out just because you really don't see how it could work out. Give them a chance and you might just be surprised. :)

Random Fact: Frozen lobsters can come back to life when thawed.

Another Day Well Spent at Work...

As you can probably guess from the image today was another super slow day at work. After lunch I literally did nothing... I listened to Elvis Duran Listen Here A morning show I used to listen every single day on my way to school and Seminary in the morning while living in Miami. I loved listening to these guys! Warning though it can be a bit on the crude side at times. Right now they are all talking about Carolina Bermudez's wedding. They definitely kept me entertained today. Yep you guessed it. I just found what I will be doing for the next 3 days that I still have to be stuck in this office.

My other new favorite past time is XKCD. If you haven't heard of this website then shame on you. It is a collection of comics that personally I find hilarious. So I was catching up reading them and these are some of my favorites from today:

Magic School Bus - Brings back childhood memories.
Ages- so funny!
Wikipedia- this is so true... when I don't know something it is straight to Google or Wikipedia.
Math- this made my brain hurt... =/
Women in Science- This will be me some day.
Null Hypothesis- gosh you know you are a nerd when this makes you laugh.
Probability- I thought this one was so cute.
Slime - There was totally something like this on Bones.
Friends- this is so sad :(
Work- this is how I feel at work every day.
Cooking- I totally have felt this way. Most college students do.
Geography Lesson  - This made me laugh so hard... Ahh America.
Ke$ha- Couldn't agree with this one more... her dental bills must be outrageous.

Well hope you enjoyed a look into my work life. Pretty exciting right? Stay tuned for more thought provoking and well rambling posts.

Random fact: The average computer user blinks 7 times a minute.

Hard at Work?

At work my sister and I have been assigned a job to inventory all the lamps. After lunch we decided we would go finish doing this since we hadn't had time to get back to it for a while. We walked into the warehouse and were greeted by the melodious snores of several Thai workers. One of the Thai staff was asleep on the reclining chair. We passed by him and turned on the lights to the upper floor. Only when we looked down from up the stairs did we notice a second guy sleeping on the couch holding a pillow. His snores were more like grunts and quite loud as they reverberated through the building. As we walked around we noticed another Thai guy sleeping on a couch on the upper level. Seriously!?! Did we miss the memo that it is nap time or something? So we quietly found our clipboard and started to write down the numbers when the lights went out and we heard someone on the stairs. We saw another man coming up the stairs and recognized it as Kuhn Joe, one of our Bosses. We thought for sure everyone would get busted but to our surprise he found a comfy reclining arm chair closed his eyes and was about to fall asleep! Mina and I started to bust out laughing and as we stifled our laughs with our hands we decided that we weren't going to be able to do the lamps today after all. Mina put the clipboard down and we headed for the stairs. Kuhn Joe opened his eyes and said... "Do you need to sleep?" to which we replied, "No we were just doing lamp inventory." He said "Ok have a nice day" and went back to his nap. As soon as Mina and I were out of the warehouse we couldn't help but start laughing. Wow! Even one of our bosses used the furniture stored up there as a place to nap. Then we started to get weirded out. Had they done that to our furniture before it got to our house? Bleh! That's where we drew the line. So needless to say it was a rather exciting day at work.

Random Fact:  "Goodbye" came from "God bye" which came from "God be with you."

Updates and more

So it has been far too long since I have posted a blog and I realize there are really no excuses. So here is a quick sum up from after finals until now. Packed up all my belongings and left good old P-town. I was so happy to be out of that dorm I'm sure I was glowing. It certainly has memories but some things are better left in the past. Plus I'm moving on to bigger and better things. Pretty sure anything is better than that pit of despair. I lived with my Mom's parents, Grandma and Grandpa Baer, for almost a week before I was whisked away to Richland, Washington. Now this is not the normal wet Washington, it's the dry, hot, desert side. My Nana and I quickly embarked on our nearly 3 week stay in Disney world. We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge Jumbo house in one of the Ginormous villas. Seriously, we had our own pool table. I found I would spend hours at night talking on the phone to John, Mark, or a few other people and just enjoying the Florida warmth and the African animals that would graze below me. That's right we had giraffes, zebras, and a whole plethora of wildlife practically on our doorstep. It was awesome! So after we returned to Washington from our wild adventure I got my driver's license and proceeded to total the car. Yeah let's not talk about that story. But know that I am fine and there is no lasting damage besides maybe some wounded pride.

Now we get to the "fun" part. The plane ride to BKK (Bangkok) was surprisingly uneventful. You have your own TV screen so I took advantage of that and watched a ton of movies. It was great! College life is wonderful but when you don't have a car well... you don't get out much. Touching down in Bangkok I made it through security without much of a problem, picked up my luggage, and proceeded through customs. Then came the hard part of locating my dad without a cell phone. I went to our "meeting place" but didn't see him. After standing around for nearly 15 minutes I finally spotted him a little ways down from me. Packing my luggage into the car I was greeted by 90 pounds of love.... my dog Kilo. Man I had missed him. After wining and some serious licking we were on our way home. I was immediately accosted by my siblings who wanted what I had brought them from the states immediately. Sifting through 140 pounds of luggage I gave them their gifts and collapsed into bed. It was nearly 2am Sunday morning Bangkok time. Surprisingly I slept pretty soundly and awoke at 9 am. My family had all left for church. I had opted out because I had to start work the next day and was hoping to speed up the process of getting rid of jet lag.

Work.... Working for the US Embassy in the GSO (housing department) is well... what you would expect. Boring... Never ever ever would I choose this for my "real" job. That being said I'd much rather shoot myself in the foot. It is an endless sea of filing and changing forms online. Mindless tasks that when there is enough to actually keep you busy it is fine. But as you can see from the length of this post and the fact that I am doing it during work well, there is never enough to be done here. Mina (my sister) works here with me and we have discovered the wonders of YouTube and the fact that there are a lot of Disney movies on there to watch. Also sleep is a good time filler. It really is sad because when we are given a task the workers are always shocked at how fast we can get it done. They expect it to take us several days or maybe a week and we get it done in a day. Really makes me wonder how anything gets done around here. This is their "busy" season too so what exactly do they do for the rest of the year!?!

The good thing about work is it does bring in some money, though not much. It will most definitely help with various college expenses though and I am hoping to still have my job as a TA in the fall. Life is pretty good but I find I am missing college life more and more. You are always busy and there is always something to do. Here I am quite content to watch The Office with my siblings. So far I have made it part way through season 3. I still have a lot ahead of me but hey progress. I watch a few episodes every night and soon I won't have work to keep me busy since we can only work here for a month. What then!?! I'll be helping my mom plan our trip to Bali, Australia, and New Zealand. That's right it's actually happening and I can scarcely contain my excitement. We leave for our 2 week excursion at the end of July. Part of my Bucket list will be complete! I'm definitely going to learn how to surf and probably test out my hand again at SCUBA or Snorkeling. Mina and I are dead set on going bungee jumping in New Zealand. So excited! We'll also be encountering some cute koalas at the Cairns zoo in Australia.

So that's the update! Haven't had much time to do a lot in Thailand yet besides movies but hopefully this weekend I'll make it to Chatuchak market (the largest open air market) to get some much needed fish supplies and just enjoy shopping. I also want to go to the Tiger Temple and Dream world. There is so much I want to do that before you know it I'll be back at School. :) Hopefully the time passes quickly. That is all!

Random Fact: There are twice as many kangaroos in Australia as there are people. The kangaroo population is estimated at about 40 million.

It has been far too Long..

So as the title says it has been far too long since I have posted anything. Sorry! With school finishing up it was so crazy! In honor of finishing my first year of College I decided to make a list of things I learned at BYU. Here it goes!

1. You can sleep when you are dead.
2. Classes will always give you more reading than they expect you to finish.
3. Meet with your professors especially if you plan to go to graduate school. They are your future ticket into the school of your choice.
4. To get an A it will take time. Be patient.
5. Your first semester is really about figuring things out. Don't freak out at your grades even if you got all A's in high school.
6. Never say Never. Anything can happen... it's college.
7. Just because it is April doesn't mean that mother nature believes it is spring and it will continue to snow.
8. Don't put away your winter clothes too early... in other words don't put them away at all!
9. BYU is really nerdy and they celebrate Pi day like it is a national holiday.
10. Freshman mentoring is marginally helpful at best and only useful in you first semester.
11. Take honors courses! They are the best and have awesome teachers.
12. You will probably cry, a lot, get used to it.
13. Sometimes being spontaneous is the best thing. Like going to the park and making giant snowballs.
14. Check the water pitcher before you drink out of it. Vinegar is also clear and not nearly as refreshing as a cold tall glass of water.
15. When you check the pitcher do not ask Liz to drink it for you. She will drink it vinegar or no vinegar and leave you sputtering nasty "water".
16. On April Fools be especially careful when using the toilet.
17. Be brave! Sometimes asking a professor for a job may be the best thing that ever happened to you.
18. Ok professors can be really scary but they are willing to work with you when you need it. Well most of them anyway so it doesn't hurt to try.
19. Religion classes may be your only A's
20. Pull out all the mattresses and have a girls night watching Grey's Anatomy sometime. Way fun.
21. When you say you aren't going to get a boyfriend, you may just meet the love of your life. <3
22. Girls can be catty and mean. End of story.
23. Don't judge a book by it's cover. This goes for people too. They may surprise you and end up being your best friend before long.
24. If you get easily distracted it may be time to be tested. :P
25. BYU basketball is a Beast! I <3 Jimmer but most of all Abuou is my main man.
26. Don't jaywalk in front of the police station they will yell at you and may give you a ticket.
27. Learn to love the library. It will be your new home soon enough.
28. During finals week the Library is far too crowded with people who finally decide to be studious. Good luck finding a seat.
29. You will get sick following finals no matter how vigilant your hygiene routine.
30. If you are a girl, your shower/tub will turn into a Shub. No matter how many times maintenance comes it will continue to fill up and drain slowly.
31. Whoever though 8:30 church was a brilliant idea was dead wrong.
32. It is mandatory to hike the Y at least once during your freshman year.
33. Stay outside as much as you can while it is still warm. This will be the only time that you can stay outside until all hours without freezing to death.
34. Most BYU dances are kinda lame but Homecoming and Preference definitely are awesome.
35. Yes BYU's football team may leave a lot to be asked of but we still love them.
36. Late summer honors is an easy 1 credit course. Plus you get to see the campus before the rest of the freshies get there.
37. The Marb is way confusing and I will never understand the layout of that building.
38. Always check which floor you are on when you enter a building it ranges from 1st to 3rd floor. Rarely do you enter on the first floor.
39. If your classroom is in the basement of any building good luck getting phone service.
40. Taking notes on a laptop is the best! Typing is so much faster and you can keep up with the professor speaking.
41. Math finals are uber hard. end of story
42. Try your best and the Lord will do the rest
43. Don't freak out about your major especially those freshman boys, you have plenty of time to make up your mind and you will most likely switch it 3 or more times.
44. Cake is amazing!
45. Cooking can be fun so try it
46. Meal plans are heaven sent especially when you are short on time and don't want to live off cereal, which you do anyway.
47. Music is the best way to stay awake while studying.
48. Prepare to be awake until 5am on average writing papers the night before they are due even though you had 2 weeks to do the paper.
49. Dirty Peppers are the fuel to stay awake while writing those papers.
50. There is no caffeine campus so you must search elsewhere to get the "real" soft drinks
51. Learn all the acronyms for the buildings.
52. The campus is pretty big. If your first class is in the Maeser building you are hiking to the outer regions of campus.
53. The testing center is the holiest place on campus due to all the prayers said there.
54. The best feeling in the world is looking up on that tv to see your score and seeing "Great Job!" or "Perfect Score".
55. There will be many disappointing test scores. Pray for a good curve
56. American Heritage will put you to sleep every day without fail.
57. Religion classes are actually really awesome and nothing like seminary.
58. Don't go to the Cougareat between the hours of 11am and 1pm it is a zoo and lines are far too long.
59. Quarters are gold and vital if you want to get your laundry done.
60. No matter how many times you wash something or dry it, it will never be truly clean.
61. It is really exciting to see all your guy friends getting their mission calls but also sad.
62. Dorms are dirty, dingy, and dark. Welcome to your living condition for the next 4 years.
63. Visiting Hours are enforced strictly, best to just stick to them.
64. RAs may seem cool and nice at first but beware they can be mean under all that "niceness".
65. When a girl says "Yeah we should hang out some time." She doesn't really want to.
66. Divine comedy is amazing and you should go to every show.
67. When a guy says "Yeah we should hang out some time" he wants to date you.
68. The dollar movie nights in the Varsity theater are fun cheap dates.
69. haha... 69... if you were in my dorm you'll understand this and all of our constant innuendos.
70. I am so glad I went to BYU. I definitely made the right choice. Yes mormons can be some of the most judgmental people you will meet but they are truly good people too. I am a true Cougar and I bleed Blue. My testimony grew so much this year and for that I am eternally grateful.

Well there you have it 70 things I learned. Yes it's long but there is just so much to say. Hope you had fun reading and there will be more coming soon....

Random Fact: Hippopotamuses break wind through their mouths.