It’s been a while. Let’s start off with a game of pretend. Let’s pretend that May doesn’t exist and that April is running extra long this year. What day would that make today? Well, I’ll tell you what today would be. It’d be

THE 44^TH OF APRIL!

Okay, so call me weird, but if you don’t see how exciting this is, you probably don’t realize that today would be

THE 44^TH DAY OF THE 4^TH MONTH!

And if it works out correctly, this should post at 4:44 giving me six 4’s documenting this post.

But six isn’t my number, and I decided it will not be associated with my 44^th blog, so I’m going to find 38 more ways to incorporate the number 4 into this post. I’ll make it as brief as possible for you, so don’t worry. Some of them are ridiculous, but give me a break. This is hard. Let’s start!

I’d like to mention the 4 members of my family in Wyoming. I love them and miss them dearly, and it is an honor to mention them in my 44^th post.

I’d also like to mention the 4 living beings in Ogden that I love and miss: my dad, my stepmom, and their two cats. Congrats! You made it into my 44^th post!

Conveniently, I have 4 new best friends that I made during this past school year. They were the best roomies I could ever have, and I love and miss them too! I couldn’t celebrate my 44^th post without them.

I was in Wyoming 4 days ago (accurate on the day I wrote this sentence).

My 4^th day of my Fundamentals of Marketing course will be on the day this is posted.

I have never seen The Fantastic 4 nor do I want to.

The letter D (4^th letter of the alphabet) is intimidating sometimes.

To demonstrate the statement above, consider 4 words that start with D: dangerous demanding, discipline, and don’t.

I have a test in 4 class days.

When I was 4, I was little. Also, I lived in Ogden.

I have two shampoos and two conditioners, a total of 4 hair care products in my shower.

I HATED the 4^th book in the Twilight series.

If I could go to school for as long as I needed, I would have two majors and two minors. That makes 4 degree things.

The 4 most common things I eat are ramen, cereal, mac & cheese three cheese, and chocolate.

I have 4 stories to tell but I can’t find a way to tell them with the number 4, so I will save them for other posts.

None of my 4 tires have been replaced since high school. I don’t think I will change them either, because they work just fine.

I am afraid of 4 ridiculous things: Ursula from the little mermaid, the april showers song from bambi (drip drip drop little april showers), teleporting (because of the book timeline and how you destroy yourself in one alternate universe just to go somewhere else), and sloths.

On 04/04/04, all I did to celebrate was notice the date and mention it to people. I am deeply ashamed at the celebration opportunity I missed.

Try doing 4 things every night before you go to bed: write in your journal, stretch, pray or meditate, and read the scriptures or a book that supports your beliefs and goals. I find these things extremely relaxing, and doing them has helped me sleep better.

Has anyone been to the 4 corners? I would like to go with 3 other people. Any volunteers?

I like February because it has 4 weeks, and the last day of the 4 weeks is my half birthday. February doesn’t have 4 weeks in leap year. It has 4 weeks and a day. However, since leap year comes every 4 years, I still like February during leap year.

Did you know a REM cycle takes 4 hours on average (or maybe all the time, I don’t know)? If you wake up at the end of your REM cycle, it’s easier to be a morning person. That’s a bonus reason to get 8 hours of sleep!

My father has 4 daughters. I am one of them. Odds are that most of the people who read this will not be one of his daughters.

I have 4 things to give to Keara next time she comes up here. Don’t let me forget the DVD player, VCR, jean jacket, and TV stand.

I had 4 pretty fingernails today, then one of them broke. Now I don’t have 4 pretty fingernails.

I know how to count to 3 in 4 languages: English, Spanish, French, and Sign Language.

I have 4 doors in my room: the entry, the bathroom, and two closet doors.

Twister is my favorite game, and it has 4 colors and 4 limbs to boss around.

4 ways I think I’m different from most girls: 1) I’d rather furnish and decorate my office than have a wedding reception; 2) I’d rather have a really good watch than an engagement ring (still need a wedding band though); 3) I liked barbie’s furniture more than I liked the dolls; and 4) I’m willing to live in a Koenigzegg CCXR (preferably non-edition, but the edition still rocks).

Not only are Kit Kats the best candy bar on the planet, but they also have 4 strips of yummy goodness! And you get to break them apart! How many candy bars allow you to be violent before you consume them? Kit Kats are meant to be broken.

THE FIRST 4 PEOPLE TO COMMENT WILL BE HONORED. The rest of the people who comment will have to live without honors, like the majority of high school and college students.

Your Post

This post is going to be focused on your replies, so please, submit to the pressure I'm putting on you to make comments.

What types of achievement are there in your life? Examples: career, family, religion

If you are comfortable sharing reasons for why these things are important to you, what goals you have, and anything else, go for it. I just want to listen today, and sharing your experiences and opinions can help other people.

Bragging and Regretting

I just finished a research project for my professsional writing course. We had to make a portfolio with a bunch of different stuff in it. One thing we made was a fact sheet that could only be one page long, and it had to summarize our research. Well, my empirical research report was 13 pages long, so I was worried about how I would summarize everything onto one page without it getting too crowded. I also wanted the fact sheet to look as professional as possible, so I worked on design elements for five hours. And no, I'm not crazy. I'm just extremely picky.

Turns out, I am more talented than I give myself credit for.

Not only did I condense everything to less than a page worth of content, I designed a very impressive layout. It was the best one in the class, honestly. My instructor told me that I might want to include it in my professional portfolio, then she corrected herself and changed her suggestion to a firm demand that I include it in my portfolio. I didn't hear her do that to anyone else.

Moral of the story: Staying up until four in the morning might be in your best interest.
Another Moral of the story: There's nothing wrong with being picky.

Next topic.

Today Aurie slipped on the snow on the way home and scratched her arm and muddied up her pant leg and froze her feet and hands. Apparently, I laughed at her. I didn't mean to, I really felt bad that she fell--it's not like I get a kick out of her misery. But I have this horrible habit of laughing when I don't know what to do about a situation and I don't even realize I do it.

One of my goals in life is to be the type of person who can respond to any situation in a classy, attractive way. I want to be the type of person people are happy to just be around. I can't be that person if my automatic response to distress and awkwardness is laughter. So I've got to stop that.