Ether 6

This post is a bit delayed. And it's long. I apologize. It's good though. At least I think it is. Plus, I'm working in some of my friends blog posts again. :) Also, don't forget to check out the guest blog I just posted. I don't want anyone to miss that just because I couldn't wait anymore to post this monster of writing.

Also, this is a very LDS post. If you have questions, ask. If you're not interested, don't worry about it. I'm not here to push anything on you. You can just read my next post.

So at church, everything focused on challenges and trials, even speakers in Sacrament Meeting. First they talked about the Holy Ghost and how he can help you make choices in your life and know how to deal with challenges, and how He can help you recognize patterns in yourself, the good ones that help you deal with challenges and the bad ones that cause even more challenges that you have to manage.

Now for my first blog reference: turn to Andee once again. She says, "It seems I always have to experience something horrible in order for me to understand anything. I can't ever just learn from others' experiences...it has to personally happen to me," (Andee Leigh, 2009, "The Ugly Truth," http://anabananandee.blogspot.com/).

How many of us agree with her? I do.

Church people also talked about pride, and how we receive trials to pull us back to the gospel sometimes, so it's for our own good. This is something I had a hard time understanding, but it all comes down to the same thing: we lean on God more when we really need him. When life is going swell and dandy, we tend to forget. It's natural. Not ideal, but it's natural. So God says, "Hey, get back here," and sometimes it's with a sharp tongue. But He's got to get through to you somehow. And He will get to you.

Story: I was riding the Aggie Shuttle last fall, and I was wrapped up in my own thoughts and wondering how the heck I was going to manage everything in my life. Usually when I'm introspective, it's hard to snap me out of it, but something caught my attention while I was on the bus. I looked up at a small window close to the ceiling. It was open a little, and I noticed there wasn't a screen. Just as I realized that, a small orange leaf fluttered into the window and landed on the seat directly across from me. Naturally, I stared at it, and then I laughed.

Why did I laugh? I'm not exactly sure. I've thought about this leaf for months, this stupid leaf that really doesn't matter, but I've learned so much from this stinking leaf that it drives me nuts and I wish I'd picked it up and pressed it in a book somewhere.

I'm not sure if this will make any sense, but I'm gonna try my best to explain the lesson of the leaf that I want to share with you. I was in a bus, a man-made moving box. It's meant to keep you safe from the weather and nature while you speedily make your way to your destination with the least amount of effort. I went into the bus to avoid walking and the weather. I avoided walking, but the leaf made it inside the bus, even though the bus was moving and the window wasn't open that much. Here's how I see the situation: I go places and make choices that makes it harder for the Gospel and God to reach me sometimes, even if it's just a choice about my attitude or what music I listen to. But even when I make those choices, if I give God even a little bit of wiggle room to influence me, He'll work with whatever room I give him. He'll come through my door if I open it for Him, but He'll also go through the window if He has to, even if all He can do is whisper through it.

Okay, two more things. Keep on reading! You can do it!

Another of my friends, Chelsey Cutler, wrote a post that covered nearly everything else we talked about at church, and I really recommend it to anyone who cares about themselves. That should be everyone reading this sentence. So visit her blog at http://chelseycutler.blogspot.com/ and read her post titled "Trials, Challenges, Changes, and Difficulties." It's worth it. And allows me to tell you this last thing:

I was very surprised that NO ONE in church mentioned Ether 6:2-18. This is one of my favorite things to read. I've read this chapter so much in the past month that I can't help but mention it. You can read it online here: http://scriptures.lds.org/en/ether/6

Ether 6 in the Book of Mormon can help you understand Why God gives us challenges and can help you accept and deal with whatever comes your way. I want to challenge you (a good challenge!) to study this chapter by playing a game of pretend. Here are the rules:

1. You are the Jaredites. Take everything in this chapter personally.
2. The vessels are your life.
3. The stones are gifts from the Lord to you. Find out what these gifts are.
4. Your preparations are your preparations. You're all smart enough to know what I mean.
5. The wind and the waters and the creatures of the sea are your trials and challenges and changes and difficulties.
6. The promised land is your perfect self, your celestial self, your life in glory.

That's all my thoughts. I hope someone gets something out of it. It helped me.

Guest Blogger: Andrew Antoff

Hey guys! I'm really excited for this post. It's my first guest blogger! Everyone, welcome ANDREW ANTOFF! (And the crowd goes wild!)

Andrew is an excellent writer. He's provided me with a sample of his work to put on my blog, and I really enjoy it. As a fellow writer, I know how hard it can be to depict the images he includes in his writing. I really want to write an introduction discussing all the technical beauties of this piece, but I decided that would probably bore you to death and that you'd rather just experience the piece for yourself. If you really like it, you can check out more of his work (really excellent stuff, so don't be shy!) at his blog, http://www.amberinglass.blogspot.com/.

So here it is! Enjoy!

The sky roared it’s protestation as I stepped outside to investigate the peculiar darkness settling outside my window. Directly above, the sky was still untouched and blue.

Crack.

Something flashed above my left shoulder drawing my attention. It was then I saw the sky to the southwest, a thick, filmy gray. Turning west, I saw the clouds smothered the horizon from south to north. As my eyes traveled the scope of their trail, all across the field of my vision they got progressively worse.

A daring 747 shot out from underneath the worst of the sky making its escape into the clear blue that was still above me. The airport was just there, below the darkest patch of black. I saw another plane circling around the outskirts of the storm, waiting to land. It veered suddenly and disappeared from view.

I took a seat in my lawn chair and watched the storm. The hairs on my neck stood on end, charged by the electricity from the heavens. There was another flash from the southwest, and seconds passed. I felt the answering cry across the battlefield, far to the north. It traveled through my body, rattled my teeth together, and deafened my ears.

THERE! Another flash, but I was watching for it; the sky divided in four--or was it five?--as the lightning branched from one purple bolt and split in different directions across the horizon.

There was a pop, like air displaced, as the bolts must have simultaneously, somewhere touched the ground, lost from my sight behind buildings and trees. I could feel the weather, but where I sat the sky was still pristine and clear.

It was then I noticed a flash from behind me, directly east. Turning, I saw a second storm front, completely unattached from the other. This one came from the coast, and was heading directly towards me.

It was not as large or as dark as the southwesterly in front of me, but thunder roared from it nonetheless. I turned my chair to face directly south, so that I could watch both sets of lightning as they sparred around me with each strike punctuated by an accompany blast of thunder that seemed instantaneous.

It was only then that I wondered, how safe I was sitting on an aluminum chair, beneath a tree, and some power lines as the heavens battled for my steadily vanishing, blue sky. Each side threatened to steal it; the opposing sides’ taunts both equally loud. It was hard to tell who took it first.

Staring directly up, I watched as the two fronts collided, and erased the trace of blue from all but memory. No sooner had they met, I was pelted by a curtain of heavy rain. I clambered for the safety of my doorway.

In the threshold I stood getting dripped on by the runoff from the roof. I wanted one last flash of lightning. I was waiting to see what side was the victor, but now that there was no more blue to quarrel over, neither seemed to be forthcoming with any more answers.

Too wet to continue I turned and went inside, and as I shut the door I saw a flash from the corner of my eye, taunting me.

“Who won?” I thought, turning to look. And then I heard the sirens and realized that it was nature.

True Story

The old lady waddled into my office. “Hi,” she greeted me. “Do you know anything about audio/visual connections?” She started fidgeting with her hands nervously, like a child asking their parents if they can have a sleepover. I wondered if she was nervous about the equipment she was trying to set up or if she was like me—afraid to ask people questions.

I’m also afraid when people ask me for help. I really do want to help them, but even when I try my hardest, sometimes I still let them down. I really just wanted to tell her, “Nope, sorry. I’ve never heard of audio/visual connections and I definitely don’t know anything about projectors, computers, VCRs, or DVD players either.” But this lady seemed nice, and curses, she did look really scared about something, so I decided to be kind and take the risk of looking like a fool. “I know a bit. Do you need help with something?”

“Well, we’re having a class...” She didn’t bother to finish her sentence. Instead, she stared at me like a lost puppy, or at least like a lost old woman.

“Okay, where is it?” I prod as I stand up, encouraging her to lead the way while I cringe inside. A class? I’m going to make a fool of myself in a class? How many people are going to watch me try to figure something out that I’ve never seen before? Crap crap crap crap crap!

“It’s just down here,” she replied as she guided me down the hallway. “We’re in the room with the people waving their arms.”

People waving their arms? I didn’t see anyone waving their arms. I looked around, but I saw no signs of arm-waving weirdos.

Instead, I saw a classroom full of old people, and a very tall, serious, scary man at the front of the classroom trying to figure out the multimedia system.

I froze at the doorway. Probably not the best way to act like you know what you are doing, but that’s what I did. I looked around the room.

Most of the people were sitting at desks, but there was a lady standing and pushing buttons on a control in what seemed to be a random fashion. I looked toward the projection of the menu she was navigating. It was completely foreign to me.

The scary tall serious man at the front of the room spoke. “Do you know how to set this up?”

No, I whimper to myself. “I can try,” I say to him.

The lady tries to hand me the remote. I look disdainfully at it, knowing that I wouldn’t be any better with it than she is. I tell her to hold on to it for a moment as I approach the front of the classroom, toward the computer desk.

As I get nearer, the scary old man comes closer to me, so I walk faster so that he doesn’t intercept my path. I also fix my gaze on the computer when suddenly...

Something seems familiar. I see the computer and hiding next to it is a small touch-screen monitor. I suck in my breath and pray that the little monitor is really the controls for the classroom. I’ve used controls like that before.

I touch the screen and it wakes up. I remind myself not to giggle at my success. It is a control system, but it looks different from the ones I’ve used. I stare at it for a moment and, to buy time, I ask the scary man, “What are you trying to do? Do you need the computer or a DVD player?” I try to read all of the buttons as fast as I can while he responds.

“Actually, it’s a tape.”

A tape? There’s no button for tape. No button for cassette either. Crap crap crap...

“We’re trying to watch a movie,” he clarifies.

Oh! A VHS! I click a few buttons on the menu searching for the VHS output, and...

I find it! Score! I hit it like a whack-a-mole and viola! The picture is playing on the projector.

“There you go,” I say entirely too quickly for anyone to understand me. I rush for the exit. I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be here.

“Wait,” the scary man calls.

I turn around with a smile, a lying smile that says I have all the time in the world and all I want to do is make his life easier.

“The sound,” he says.

Honestly, if he doesn’t know how to operate this stuff, how did he get this room in the first place?

“Uh,” I say idiotically as I make my way back to the little monitor. I’ve never had to use sound before. I don’t even know if there’s a sound menu.

I almost cried in relief when I saw the touch-screen menu. It had very few buttons now: play, pause, stop, rewind, fast forward, and VOLUME. I took all of the sounds off mute (after warning all the old people that they might want to plug their ears in case it was loud). That was the easiest solution of the day.

After solving two problems in a row, I felt much more comfortable in that room. The best part was that all of the old people started praising and thanking me. I was a hero! And I really didn’t do anything, now that I thought about it.

It was a good feeling. And it wasn’t even ruined when my coworker told me that he just puked because Taco Time gave them a beef burrito instead of his veggie request. He’s Indian. Not such a great day for him.

Foreword

I've been admitted to a group called the Inkers. It's a group of writers and mentors, and I've asked some of them to be guest bloggers here. They love writing, and that's what they'll talk about if they post on my blog. I'm giving you a heads up so you don't think someone hacked into my account. I'll also introduce them to remind you before I publish their post.

Great Crap

I'd like to give everyone a thought today. I've been thinking it over a lot lately.

Life has a lot of great moments. That's what makes life worth something.

But life also has a lot of crap moments. It's how you deal with the crap that makes you worth something.

Look back at all the great things AND the bad things and realize that you wouldn't be who you are with all of it. You wouldn't be the people that I care about so much. So in a weird way, thanks for living your life through the good and the bad. I wouldn't have you any other way. :)

Choose

So I was talking with my roommate today and it got me thinking.

I know that a lot of people in America throw away their leftover food. And yes, there are a lot of people around the world who are hungry, but how are we supposed to get our leftovers to them before they rot? I agree that this is wasteful, but I don't think we should stuff ourselves fat just because other people don't have food. We should just make less food, or give cans to a charity every now and then. There are even people in the States that need food, so if you think you have too much food, you can donate it to the local Food Bank.

But that's not exactly what I was thinking about.

I also know that a lot of people have clothes that they don't wear and sometimes they'll go through their closet and toss out some old stuff that they never use. This goes somewhere along the lines of the food thing, but I don't think it's okay to throw away clothes. You can easily donate clothes. Same for toys and shoes and books. The only thing I think people should throw away is underwear, because that's disgusting to share.

But that's not exactly what I was thinking about either.

I also know that some people abandon cars and houses. I'm not sure what exactly happens when you abandon cars or houses in a legal sense, but I wonder if it might be nicer to send a car to a demolition derby so that you can provide some entertainment. Maybe people can donate a house to a charity to fix up for their own purposes. Again, I don't know legal or financial issues dealing with property abandonment. It just seems like a waste of things that can make a difference to people.

And that's still not exactly what I was thinking about.

I am aware that many people appreciate the choice they have today regarding abortion. Women feel better knowing that they have the opportunity to have an abortion if they really feel like they should. It's not always because of financial reasons, responibility reasons, or anything at all. I don't think most of them plan on having abortion, they just want the freedom to choose. That's what I learned from my roommate, and I respect her opinion, and it makes sense to me.

There's also rape and incest and frankly, how on earth are you supposed to carry that baby inside of you? It'd take a super sober and strong person to go through that. And how can you judge someone if they abort when that happens to them? You shouldn't. You just should plain keep your nose out of it. (Note: I'm not claiming that I never judge people. I just realize that I shouldn't judge people. I am aware that I am a hypocrite, but please ignore that for a while.)

Freedom is a big deal. If you can't choose, then you are just being forced to do stuff. From what I understand, we are living so that we can make choices, so the pro-life/-choice debate is important to me. We are living so that we can put on our shoes in the morning and tie our own laces as they fall apart. No one else has to worry about our laces. If people try to force you to tie your shoes, tell them to worry about their own feet.

But that doesn't mean that I want people to abort. Quite the contrary.

There are women who become pregnant for various reasons. Many are in love. Some are in like. Some are indifferent. Any of these women could become pregnant without planning to--it's not just the young girls or the irresponsible people. Things happen, and sometimes those things are bad. That's life.

Repeat that last sentence: That's life.

Continuing: There are women who, for many reasons, choose to have an abortion. It is not our place to judge them. I would simply like to compare the situation to some other situations we're all familiar with. Here are my own opinions on the situations:

You throw away leftovers, and that's fine. They aren't going to help the people in Africa. But maybe you can give some leftovers to a poor college student you know. ;)

You throw away clothing, shoes, books, and toys, and that's okay, but there's really no reason to throw away stuff that other people could use. Try donating it. You can use it as a tax write off, so that's a bonus, right?

You abandon cars and houses, and that's your own deal. But what a waste! If you can do anything, send your car to an awesome show of destruction that people will enjoy or let some nonprofit organization have the place before you ditch. People can use things. Be creative.

You abort. Whether or not you believe the child feels pain or is alive at the point that you abort, you must know that you are at least taking away the potential of life. Even if you don't want the child, if you can't take care of the child, or if you can't emotionally handle the child because of how it was conceived, there are people out there who cannot physically have children. There are people who are dying inside to have a child of their own but they can't. They would love to have your baby. It's not like underwear--it's not disgusting to let someone else love and care for your child.

But having the baby requires a lot on the birthmother's part. They have to go through pregnancy, and that's not an entirely fun experience from what I hear and see. You have to go through labor, and that for sure is not going to be the best part of your day. These reasons alone are enough to convince some women that abortion is the right choice for them.

And there's another reason, one that I'm not too sure people think about. I cannot imagine someone giving birth and not loving, at least a little bit, the beautiful creature that they've shared everything with for the past ~nine months, their child. It has got to be so difficult to give up your child. I cannot imagine it. And I'm sure there are people out there who fall so in love with their babies that they decide to keep them even if they have adoptive parents lined up and ready to go. Those people keep their babies even if they can't provide for them as well as they would want to. It changes their lives and many of their dreams are shattered for the sake of this little person that they love so much. Sometimes this turn of events can create negative feelings in the birthparents because they wish they could've done more with their life. It's not a happy situation.

So I can see why people want the choice to abort. But in the long run, I think we shouldn't throw away people, not even the potential of them. They can offer so much to the world, and there are plenty of people out there who would love to have the children. They will gladly change the diapers, cure the fevers, teach to walk, endure the "I hate you's" and look forward to the "I love you's." There are people out there who want those children. There are people out there who can be affected by those children.

Who knows? You could be throwing away the next Hitler. But you might be throwing away the next Mother Teresa. But even if that baby won't become someone famously spectacular, they might make someone an excellent spouse. They might be the friend that keeps someone going through high school. They might still do great things, just on a smaller scale.

So that's exactly what I was thinking about.

I still believe in the freedom to choose. Without it, people can't make decisions. My opinion is pro-life, but if you are forced to choose that way, it doesn't help you, it only helps the baby. The baby is important, but so are you. If you choose to do it, then you might consider the difficult experience as a blessing. If you are forced, I doubt you will ever appreciate just what you are doing for that tiny person inside of you. You need to be able to make a choice, whether people agree with it or not. That's why you are in your own shoes. If you choose something that other people don't agree with and they treat you badly, I hope you forgive them. It's really hard to understand both sides of the argument completely. And if someone makes a choice you don't agree with, I hope you forgive them. What's apparently right for you isn't apparently right for other people.

If you comment, please do your best to respect other people's opinions. I hope that this post didn't come off as a bash on anyone who disagrees with me. I totally am not bashing. What you think is right is totally up to you, and you have your reasons, so that's fine. I just wanted to share my opinion on the matter with everyone who takes the time to read this. I admit that I think my opinion is right, but that's why its my opinion. And yes, I'm hoping to make an influence on anyone who reads this. That's me being honest for you.

My friend Andee has a blog with some posts about her own story as a birthmother. If you want to read it, visit http://anabananandee.blogspot.com/. You can access the story by clicking on links on the right side of the page (just scroll down).

Character

I was daydreaming this morning about what my life would be like if I were the main character in a book. I was thinking about all the cool things I could do, all the people I could meet and the places I could go. It was a fun little daydream session.

But after it was done, I realized something.

I've done cool things, I've met lots of people and gone lots of places. I've gone through plots, I'm in the middle of more plots, and I know that there will be more plots in the future. Life is just a lot of stories strung together.

So I might not be the main character in a book, but I'm the main character in my life. I'm a supporting character in other people's lives. I'm all over the place! How many movies have character so spread out? I don't know of any.

And everyone else is doing the exact same thing I am. You are the main character in your own life. You make the decisions that affect the plot, pace, and tone of your story/stories. You are also a supporting character in the lives of your family, friends, coworkers...everyone you know.

That's a pretty fun thought.

And maybe it's weird, but you all know that I think weird things from time to time, so it shouldn't be too surprising to you.

This whole thought made me realize that I want to be a good main character. I mean, I like when books and movies make the "bad" guy the main character, but I'd rather be a good character, to tell you the truth. And I want to be a good supporting character, too. I don't want to be a Potter's Wormtail, I want to be his Padfoot. I don't want to be Nephi's Laman, I want to be his Jacob.

...I took a break from writing this for lunch and I have no idea where I was going with this.

Lol.

Well, hopefully it makes sense as it is for you. Ha ha.

Spin Off

Sometimes I wish time would spin off. Right now it just seems to be spinning.

I'm not sure how time can spin--maybe it's because it moves too fast and slow at the same time, or maybe it's because so much seems to be going on right now--but take my word for it, time is spinning.

But ta da topic: I am looking forward to Halloween. I am saving for the dentist, then I'm saving for car insurance so I can get registered, but hopefully after that I can save up for a Ravenclaw costume in time for Halloween. I found a blue lined robe, the old Ravenclaw patches, and a Luna Lovegood costume with accessories. I just need to figure out how to sew the robe--I'm absolutely clueless when it comes to cloth.

Anyway, Harry Potter makes me happy. I want to be in Ravenclaw, and Halloween gives me an excuse to play pretend like a kid again.

It'll be like going back in time. It'll be like spinning that time turner. I'm looking forward to it.

I'm also looking forward to New Zealand. I don't know when I'm going, but I'm gonna do it. I want to be surrounded by green and blue.

I have some new friends who like to go to church and read scriptures and play with pinatas and tonight they brought me cookies. I also took some pain medication. So now I'm comforted with cookies and painless because of pills. It's making me tired, so I'm off to bed now.

Hopefully time becomes normal soon. Or becomes exceedingly thrilling. I'm not too picky. Just as long as it stops spinning. I'd like to walk in a straight line again.

Hey, don't do that!

So I've been playing my guitar for literal hours this weekend, and my fingers decided to play a game of their own.

It's called "Go Raw & Blister Underneath Calluses."

(Don't ask me how my fingers are raw and have calluses at the same time. They just do.)

So I told my fingers very firmly, "Hey! Don't do that!" But you know how fingers are when you try to boss them around...

This means that I will not play the guitar until my fingers start behaving, and who knows how long that will be.

The good news is that I only have one verse left to write in my song, and then I will try to make a bridge for it. Then I will need to find a piano and see if I can add anything from that realm of music. Maybe I will hire a rapper, too. :)

Clickity Clack

Silent Library. MXC. Miyazaki. Wolf's Rain. Samurai X. .hack//sign. princess tutu.

those are my japanese influences. i am not ashamed. well, maybe a little bit about princess tutu, but i would finish watching the series if i had the chance. i like ducks, and that show messes with your head. i like things that play with reality.

if you don't know what i'm talking about, go culture yourself. or just accept it and move on, because i'm moving on ready or not.

oh, before i forget, are dentists open on saturdays?

i watched the movie click recently. it took me two days to finish. i remember two adjectives and two nouns, and they were put together horribly in the movie. they were:

1) red lambourghini

and

2) blue ferrari

I think Adam Sandler did that just to make me laugh. if you truly love lambourghinis, you don't do a red lambourghini, even if they are out there. that is ferrari's color, and lambourghini looks down their nose at ferrari. saying that, it's not as bad to do a blue ferrari, but if you are getting a ferrari, get a red one! that is their color.

silly adam sandler.

also, i want some expensive crap. it is not fun to want expensive crap. i want a snowboard, a loft bed, and a solidTek DM-L2 DigiMemo Digital Notepad to draw pictures and take notes and write stories and then just upload them to my computer.

Question: if you could research anything for 2 years, what would you research? I'd like to hear about realistic stuff, but if you come up with something waaaay out there, then go for it. I want to research how it would be possible for only half of a star to die so that only one half of it is burning. that's an example of what types of things i think about in my spare time (walking to and from work).

alaska blues

my family went camping for a family reunion, i think. i didn't go with them, so i'm not sure. my stepdad is going to alaska again. i wanted him to take me with him, but i can't GO anywhere because i can't get my car registered and i have to work. work isn't so bad. it's the registering that's making me mad. i'm locked in logan. i like logan, but not this summer. this summer sucks. i'm bored to death and i should be visiting family and camping and hanging out with friends before they travel to the other side of the world to teach kids english.

i'm getting crankier as time goes on. i don't like being cranky. but some girl named shannon became a scripture reading buddy with me and that's relaxing and social at the same time.

but i want to go camping in alaska with a bowl of chocolate covered strawberries and 4 of my favorite books and all of my favorite people. and i want to sleep. i can only do one of those things right now, so i'll get to it.

Balancing Act

So I have always been aware that my life balances itself out. If something really bad happens, then something really good happens to make it okay. If something really good happens, then something bad happens to bring me back to reality.

So lthe last two weeks were great. I got a paycheck, my family came to Utah, and I got to see my friends, one of them twice :). I did some fiction writing, wrote a guitar song and drafed up some lyrics, and I beat the motoracing game I have. I made some new friends and I got a scripture-reading buddy for Wednesday nights. Work was wearing me out, but that's what work is supposed to do, so I really wasn't too bad.

Then I went to get my car registered, and I found out that my insurance was cancelled in December 2008 and I have to pay 300+ bucks to fix that and then pay to sign up for insurance before I get my car registered. Also, I still have to do safety and emissions. This is on top of the filling and cap that I need to get done soon and pay the dentist for. That is on top of rent and tuition. That is on top of groceries and utilities. So yeah, life starts balancing out.

And it continues balancing out. My dad is getting divorced again and I am very sad about this. I like ReAnne, and I liked him living in Ogden. Ogden is close to me, especially when you compare it to Rawlins, WY. It will cost more gas money to see him now, so that means I won't see him quite as often. And I don't know what else is going to change. I like change, but not this kind of change. This kind sucks.

So thank you, life, for being so well rounded. But frankly, why couldn't I just get the stomach flu or have a really bad anemic episode? At least that's easy to deal with.

The good news is that my favorite Harry Potter book is coming out in theaters this month, and I am VERY excited for it. I'm just hoping that I won't get pulled over on my way to it. Maybe I will drive in the dark from now on.

Oh question for astonomers: assuming that it can happen, how can only half of a star die?

Also, I am not a fan of humidity. It makes everything feel like yuck.

And has anyone ever done a GRE? I have to do it soon.